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Carroll Quigley Quotes

1910–1977

Carroll Quigley (9 November 1910 – 3 January 1977) was a noted American historian, polymath, and theorist of the evolution of civilizations, best known for his books The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) and Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time (1966). He was noted for his teaching work as a professor at Georgetown University, for his academic publications, and for his research on secret societies.

Historians

Random Carroll Quigley quote

49 quotes

No scientist ever believes that he has the final answer or the ultimate truth on anything.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

Every civilization must be organized in such a way that it has invention, capital accumulation, and investment.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

Even today few scientists and perhaps even fewer nonscientists realize that science is a method and nothing else.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

Closely related to the erroneous idea that science is a body of knowledge is the equally erroneous idea that scientific theories are true.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

Each individual in a society is a nexus where innumerable relationships of this character intersect.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

A society is a group whose members have more relationships with one another then they do with outsiders.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

It is also in theory, conceivable that some universal empire some day might cover the whole globe, leaving no external "barbarians" to serve as invaders.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

Our political organization, based as it is on an eighteenth-century separation of powers and on a nineteenth-century nationalist state, is generally recognized to be semiobselete.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

The backwardness of our religious and social developments is undoubtedly holding back the development of the intellectual and political levels.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

A civilization is complicated, in the first place, because it is dynamic; that is, it is constantly changing in the passage of time, until it has perished.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

It is not easy to tear any event out of the context of the universe in which it occurred without detaching from it some factor that influenced it.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

Capitalism might be defined, if we wish to be scientific, as a form of economic organization motivated by the pursuit of profit within a price structure.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

The process by which civilization, as an abstract entity distinct from the societies in which it is embodied, dies or is reborn is a very significant one.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

A fully integrated culture would be like the dinosaurs, which had to perish because they were no longer able to adapt themselves to changes in the external environment.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

The vested interests encourage the growth of imperialist wars and irrationality because both serve to divert the discontent of the masses away from their vested interests ( the uninvested surplus).

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

The social sciences are usually concerned with groups of persons rather than individual persons. The behavior of individuals, being free, is unpredictable.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

When we approach history, we are dealing with a conglomeration of irrational continua. Those who deal with history by nonrational processes are the ones who make history, the actors in it.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

The instrument of expansion of Classical civilization was a social organization, slavery.

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

This book is not a history. Rather it is an attempt to establish analytical tools that will assist the understanding of history

The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (1979)

In fact, this network, which we may identify as the Round Table Groups, has no aversion to cooperating with the Communists, or any other groups, and frequently does so.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Carroll Quigley (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.