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Civilization is another word for respect for life.

— Elizabeth Goudge

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Source, in full

in At the Sign of the Dolphin: An Elizabeth Goudge Anthology, compiled and arranged by Rose Dobbs, London: Hodder and Stoughton (1947), p. 507; from Goudge's novel Green Dolphin Country (1944), Book II, Part I, Chapter 3.3, where a character says,"Civilization […] is another word for respect for life", adding that it's "brittle as spun glass".

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Society

More quotes by Elizabeth Goudge

A sense of identity is the gift of love, and only love can give it.

The Dean's Watch (1960)

Human nature is intractable stuff, hard jagged stuff, the kind of stuff that dreams are wrecked on.

The White Witch (1958)

There is no greater tyranny than that of social custom.

The Dean's Watch (1960)

Life is a reaching out for something or someone. That is its definition.

The Scent of Water (1963)

The human desire to be understood is never quite sincere. It is on our own terms that we desire to be understood, not on the terms of truth.

The Child from the Sea (1970)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Elizabeth Goudge (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.