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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.

— Arnold J. Toynbee A Study of History (1934)

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More quotes by Arnold J. Toynbee

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

A Study of History (1934)

Compassion is the desire that moves the individual self to widen the scope of its self-concern to embrace the whole of the universal self.

The Toynbee-Ikeda Dialogue: Man Himself Must Choose (1976)

The notion that the direct and immediate producers of the fruits of technology have a proprietary right to these fruits will have to be forgotten.

Civilization, as we know it, is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbour.

Civilization on Trial (1948)

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

A Study of History (1934)

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