"Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilisers of man." - Benjamin Disraeli, speech (1872)

"Civilisation is nothing else than the attempt to reduce force to being the ultima ratio 'last resort'." - José Ortega Y Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses

"If a test of civilisation be sought, none can be so sure as the condition of that half of society over which the other half has power." - Harriet Martineau, Society in America

"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." - THEODORE DREISER, Sister Carrie

"what man calls civilization
always results in deserts"
- DON MARQUIS, archy and mehitabel