We believe that civilization has been created under the pressure of the exigencies of life at the cost of satisfaction of the instincts.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct.
If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.
With all our mastery over the powers of Nature we have adhered to the view that the struggle for existence is a permanent and necessary condition of life.
Whenever societies do well, they believe that there is something in their cultural DNA that made it happen.
We are biological creatures. We are born, we live, we die. There is no transcendent purpose to existence. At best we are creatures of reason, and by using reason we can cure ourselves of emotional excess. Purged of both hope and fear, we find courage in the face of helplessness, insignificance and uncertainty.
I do not believe that civilizations have to die because civilization is not an organism. It is a product of wills.
Human civilization is not something achieved against nature; it is rather the outcome of the working of the innate qualities of man.
Civilization consists in the multiplication and refinement of human wants.
We are built to conquer environment, solve problems, achieve goals, and we find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve.
Our civilization is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason.