“Thing about civilization, it’s what keeps people civil. You get rid of one, you can’t count on the other.”

—  Daniel Abraham

Source: Nemesis Games (2015), Chapter 30 (p. 316)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Thing about civilization, it’s what keeps people civil. You get rid of one, you can’t count on the other." by Daniel Abraham?
Daniel Abraham photo
Daniel Abraham 141
speculative fiction writer from the United States 1969

Related quotes

Barack Obama photo

“And one of the rules of good civil society I believe is that you’re respectful of the people who disagree with you. And that's part of what makes civil society work. If you can have civil disagreements, and you can listen to each other and not just shout, that's what creates an environment that leads to progress over the long term.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Remarks by President Obama in Conversation with Members of Civil Society at YALI Regional Leadership Center, Kenyatta University,Nairobi, Kenya https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/07/26/remarks-president-obama-conversation-members-civil-society (July 26, 2015)
2015

Colin Wilson photo

“You've got the temperament of a scholar, and you live on your own and write books. You don't have anything to do with civilization. You've been in London a few days and you can't wait to get back home. But how about the people who can't write books -- people there's no outlet for in this civilization? What about your new men who don't know what to do?”

Colin Wilson (1931–2013) author

Source: The Glass Cage (1966), p. 200

Orson Scott Card photo

“Isn’t that what it means to be civilized? That you can wait to get what you want?”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Shadow

Source: Ender's Shadow

Adyashanti photo

“You can't get rid of thoughts, and you can't get rid of thinking. To battle your mind is one of the most deceptive ways that the mind keeps you in its own domain.”

Adyashanti (1962) Spiritual teacher

The Basic Teachings - Part 1: Principles of the Teaching (2009)

Jacque Fresco photo

“We talk about civilization as though it's a static state. There are no civilized people yet, it's a process that's constantly going on… As long as you have war, police, prisons, crime, you are in the early stages of civilization.”

Jacque Fresco (1916–2017) American futurist and self-described social engineer
Donald J. Trump photo

“People don't realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why?”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Trump: Why Couldn't the Civil War Have Been Avoided? http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-why-couldn-t-civil-war-have-been-avoided-n753241 (May 1, 2017)
2010s, 2017, May

Mohammad Ali Foroughi photo

“I suspect that some of you would say ‘A civilized nation is one that has railways, modern industry, organized army, tank, aircraft, etc., and an uncivilized nation is one that does not possess such things.’ Or you would say that a civilized nation is one whose cities … have wide and paved streets, with multi-storey buildings, and so on.’ Civilized nations, of course, do have such things, but I submit that these are products of civilization, not its essence. The essence of civilization is that people are mature, and the clearest sign of their maturity is that they observe the law.”

Mohammad Ali Foroughi (1877–1942) Iranian politician

Radio broadcast (October 1941)

Gertrude Stein photo

“Propaganda is not French, it is not civilized to want other people to believe what you believe because the essence of being civilised is to possess yourself as you are, and if you possess yourself as you are you of course cannot possess any one else, it is not your business.”

Gertrude Stein book Paris France

Source: Paris France (1940), p. 56

Christopher Hitchens photo

“My own view is that this planet is used as a penal colony, lunatic asylum and dumping ground by a superior civilization, to get rid of the undesirable and unfit. I can't prove it, but you can't disprove it either.”

Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist

Source: god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

Michael McFaul photo

“It’s incumbent upon all people to believe in the facts and to keep pushing it. You can’t constrain free speech, but you can speak more loudly about what is factual.”

Michael McFaul (1963) American academic and diplomat

"An Interview with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul" in LA Times High School Insider https://highschool.latimes.com/carnegie-mellon-university/an-interview-with-former-u-s-ambassador-to-russia-michael-mcfaul/ (30 August 2019)

Related topics