European civilisation is unique because it is the only civilisation which has imposed itself on the rest of the world. It did this by conquest and settlement; by its economic power; by the power of its ideas; and because it had things that everyone else wanted. Today every country on earth uses the discoveries of science and the technologies that flow from it, and science was a European invention.

— John Hirst The Shortest History of Europe (2009)

More quotes by John Hirst

Sense and Nonsense in Australian History (2005)

Sense and Nonsense in Australian History (2005)

The Australians: Insiders and Outsiders on the National Character since 1770 (2007)

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