52 quotes
"When God made Baluchistan, he laughed."
On this showing, the nature of the breakdowns of civilizations can be summed up in three points: a failure of creative power in the minority, an answering withdrawal of mimesis on the part of the majority, and a consequent loss of social unity in the society as a whole.
A Study of History (1934)
[E]very oasis is an island that has water inside it but not round it.
[S]o-called racial characteristics are not really racial at all but are due to the historical experiences of the communities in question.
A Study of History (1934)
[T]he equation of religion with belief is rather recent.
Now civilizations, I believe, come to birth and proceed to grow by successfully responding to successive challenges. They break down and go to pieces if and when a challenge confronts them which they fail to meet.
Civilization on Trial (1948)
No collection of facts is ever complete, because the Universe is without bounds. And no synthesis or interpretation is ever final, because there are always fresh facts to be found after the first collection has been provisionally arranged.
A Study of History (1934)
Now who are the individuals who are the greatest benefactors of the living generation of mankind? I should say: Confucius and Lao-Tse; the Buddha; the Prophets of Israel and Judah; Zoroaster, Jesus, Muhammad; and Socrates.
Civilization on Trial (1948)
Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things: first, an ideal, with takes the imagination by storm, and second, a definite intelligible plan for carrying that ideal into practice.
Right and wrong are the same in Palestine as anywhere else. What is peculiar about the Palestine conflict is that the world has listened to the party that has committed the offence and has turned a deaf ear to the victims.
Our western science is a child of moral virtues; and it must now become the father of further moral virtues if its extraordinary material triumphs in our time are not to bring human history to an abrupt, unpleasant and discreditable end.
India is the central link in a chain of regional civilizations that extends from Japan in the far north-east to Ireland in the far northwest. Between these two extremities the chain sags down southwards in a festoon that dips below the Equator in Indonesia.
I don’t believe a committee can write a book. ... It can, oh, govern a country, perhaps. But I don’t believe it can write a book.
Interviewed by Christopher Wright (1955)
[T]he dogma that History is just "one damned thing after another..."
A Study of History (1934)
A city that outdistances Man's walking powers is a trap for Man. It threatens to become a prison from which he cannot escape unless he has mechanical means of transport, the thoroughfares for carrying these, and the purchasing power for commanding the use of artificial means of communication.
The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.
Attributed
Sooner or later, man has always had to decide whether he worships his own power or the power of God.
Attributed
At this supremely dangerous moment in human history, the only way of salvation is the ancient Hindu way.
Attributed
At the close of this century, the world would be dominated by the West, but that in the 21st century "India will conquer her conquerors."
Attributed
Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.
Attributed