“The ultimate tendency of civilization is toward barbarism.”
David Hare (1947) British writer
Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare Guesses at Truth (London: Macmillan, ([1827-48] 1867) p. 459.
Misattributed
“Barbarism is the natural state of mankind. Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph.”
"Beyond the Black River" (1935)
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Robert E. Howard145
American author 1906–1936Related quotes
“There is no document of civilization that is not also a document of barbarism.”
Walter Benjamin book Theses on the Philosophy of History
Variant: There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism.
Source: Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940), VII
Source: On the Concept of History
“Civilization without its appliances is weaker than barbarism.”
Theodore Winthrop book The Canoe and the Saddle
The Canoe and the Saddle: Adventures Among the Northwestern Rivers and Forests (1863), ch. ix: Via Mala.
“If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.”
Thomas Sowell (1930) American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author
Source: Knowledge And Decisions
“America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) French Post-Impressionist artist
Original: Votre œil bleu du nord regardait attentivement les tableaux pendus aux murs. J’eus comme le pressentiment d’une révolte : tout un choc entre votre civilisation et ma barbarie. Civilisation dont vous souffrez. Barbarie qui est pour moi un rajeunissement.
Source: 1890s - 1910s, The Writings of a Savage (1996), p. 105: quote from his letter to August Strindberg (5 May 1895)
Alfred De Vigny book Servitude et grandeur militaires
L'existence du Soldat est (après la peine de mort) la trace la plus douloureuse de barbarie qui subsiste parmi les hommes.
Servitude et grandeur militaires; (ed.) Paul Viallaneix Oeuvres complètes, (1965) p. 358; translation from Humphrey Hare (trans.) The Military Necessity (1953) p. 17. (1835).
Liu Xiaobo (1955–2017) Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist
"Bellicose and Thuggish: The Roots of Chinese "Patriotism" at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century" (2002)
No Enemies, No Hate: Selected Essays and Poems