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Quotes from A Study of History — Arnold J. Toynbee

1889–1975 England

← All quotes by Arnold J. Toynbee

14 quotes

Societies, not states, are 'the social atoms' with which students of history have to deal.

A Study of History (1934)

A life which does not go into action is a failure.

A Study of History (1934)

No being can be what he is unless he is putting his essence into action in his field.

A Study of History (1934)

The difference between a Humanist and a lunatic is in fact one of degree.

A Study of History (1934)

The value of the goal lies in the goal itself; and therefore the goal cannot be attained unless it is pursued for its own sake.

A Study of History (1934)

There is no such thing as gratitude in international politics.

A Study of History (1934)

The Hellenization of Rome was, of course, the most important cultural conquest that the Hellenes ever achieved at any stage of their history.

A Study of History (1934)

History [is] a vision of God's creation on the move.

A Study of History (1934)

The history of almost every civilization furnishes examples of geographical expansion coinciding with deterioration in quality.

A Study of History (1934)

It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.

A Study of History (1934)

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)

[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)

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)

[T]he dogma that History is just "one damned thing after another..."

A Study of History (1934)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Arnold J. Toynbee (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.