“…empires and civilizations do not collapse because of deficiencies on the military or the political levels.”

— Carroll Quigley

Oscar Iden Lecture Series, Lecture 3: "The State of Individuals" (1976)

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Carroll Quigley 79

American historian 1910–1977

Kenneth E. Boulding (1910–1993) British-American economist

Source: 1950s, General Systems Theory - The Skeleton of Science, 1956, p. 201, quoted in: John P. Cole, Cuchlaine A. M. King (1969) Quantitative geography: techniques and theories in geography. p. 575

“The West may collapse very suddenly. Complex civilizations do that, because they operate, most of the time, on the edge of chaos.”

Niall Ferguson (1964) British historian

Source: "TED Talks: Niall Ferguson" http://www.ted.com/speakers/niall_ferguson.html TED

“The conclusion drawn by … most of our élites … is that the population constitutes a deep and dangerous well of ignorance and irrationality; if our civilization is in crisis the fault must lie with the populace which is not rising to the inescapable challenges. And yet civilizations do not collapse because the citizenry are corrupt or lazy or anti-intellectual. These people do not have the power and influence to either lead or destroy. Civilizations collapse when those who have power fail to do their jobs.”

John Ralston Saul The Doubter's Companion

"Anti-Intellectualism"
The Doubter's Companion (1994)

“The collapse of the Soviet Union, a state which appeared as solidly entrenched to us as the tsarist Empire did in its day, was not triggered by social unrest: there were no strike waves, no massive demonstrations, no widespread violence. The USSR disintegrated because of political decisions made at the top.”

Richard Pipes (1923–2018) American historian

Source: Three “Whys” of the Russian Revolution (1995), p. 14

“The collapse of world imperialism is a long historical process comprising different types of revolutions in various countries, determined by their unequal level of economic, political and social development.”

Trường Chinh (1907–1988) former General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (1907-1988)

For the Centenary of Lenin’s Birth (1971) (excerpts)

“literally: All our misery comes from a deficiency in civil courage.”

Heinz Barwich (1911–1966) German physicist

Unser ganzes Elend kommt vom Mangel an Zivilcourage.
adapted translation: All our suffering comes from a deficiency to stand up for our beliefs.
explaining why he defected the Soviet Bloc, as quoted by Egon Vacek in Die Flucht des Atomforschers, Die Zeit, October 29, 1965, Nr. 44.