It is just because civilization is ever evolving, changing, and becoming more complicated, that experts find it so difficult to define it in explicit terms.
Before the discovery of agriculture mankind was everywhere so divided, the size of each group being determined by the natural fertility of its locality.
Tolerance is held to be a condition of mind which is encouraged by, and is necessary for, civilization.
Human nature, as manifested in tribalism and nationalism, provides the momentum of the machinery of human evolution.
Religious leaders and men of science have the same ideals; they want to understand and explain the universe of which they are part; they both earnestly desire to solve, if a solution be ever possible, that great riddle: Why are we here?
No tribe unites with another of its own free will.
The German Fuhrer, as I have consistently maintained, is an evolutionist; he has consistently sought to make the practices of Germany conform to the theory of evolution.
The proper balance between individual liberty and central authority is a very ancient problem.
We shall never understand the ethical system taught by Jesus unless we realize that he was a Jew, not only by birth, but that he lived and taught as a Jew; the Sermon on the Mount was addressed to his distracted fellow nationals.
The main force used in the evolving world of humanity has hitherto been applied in the form of war.
No tempting form of error is without some latent charm derived from truth.
This world of ours has been constructed like a superbly written novel: we pursue the tale with avidity, hoping to discover the plot.
Good men, whether they be Christians or rationalists, do not desire to discriminate between races, but the distinctions implanted by Nature are too conspicuous to escape the observation of our senses.
There are very few men and women in whom a Universalist feeling is altogether lacking; its prevalence suggests that it must be part of our inborn nature and have a place in Nature’s scheme of evolution.
Universalism as an ideal is as old as nay, is probably much more ancient than the Christian ideal.
Under no stretch of imagination can war be regarded as an ethical process; yet war, force, terror, and propaganda were the evolutionary means employed to weld the German people into a tribal whole.
There are the further difficulties of building a population out of a diversity of races, each at a different stage of cultural evolution, some in need of restraint, many in need of protection; everywhere a bewildering Babel of tongues.
Nowhere is Universalism welcomed and encouraged by a people; everywhere governments have forced and are forcing Universalism upon unwilling and resistant subjects.
In every man there is an instinctive and passionate reaction if his person or liberty is attacked.
Reason has not tamed desire: it is as strong as ever.