It is difficult to generalize about Islam. To begin with, the word itself is commonly used with two related but distinct meanings, as the equivalents both of Christianity, and Christendom. In the one sense, it denotes a religion, as system of beliefs and worship; in the other, the civilization that grew up and flourished under the aegis of that religion. The word Islam thus denotes more than fourteen centuries of history, a billion and a third people, and a religious and cultural tradition of enormous diversity.
War creates no absolutely new situation: it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it. Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice.
Survival must come before civilization.
Business as usual doesn't work, that we're in a time where we have to rethink a lot of the basic ground rules and assumptions of our civilizations.
Business, properly understood, is so central to every aspect of our civilization that Republicans should proudly announce that they are indeed the party of business.
The state of our civilization manifests itself both in the non-problems that terrify us beyond all reason - rising sea levels - and in the real problems we pay no heed to [population decline]. . . In reality, much of the planet will be uninhabited long before it's uninhabitable
Money is the most important subject intellectual persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it is widely understood and its defects remedied very soon.
But the place which you have selected for your camp, though never so rough and grim, begins at once to have its attractions, and becomes a very centre of civilization to you: "Home is home, be it never so homely. "
Art is universal. It unites mankind in common brotherhood. As a missionary of civilization, its message is both to heart and mind. Distinctions of tongue or boundary lines disappear before the power of truths, which, like the rainbow, charm by the beauty of variegated hues, or, combined with light, illuminate the universe. Moreover, art is the connecting link in the chain of great minds. Through its language, thought appeals to thought, and sympathy echoes feeling.
Civilization may be said indeed to be the creation of its outlaws.
If civilization has risen from the Stone Age, it can rise again from the Wastepaper Age.
Yes,I'm afraid you're right. Trial and error isn't a bad way to learn how to build an aircraft,but it can be a disastrous way to learn how to build a civilization.
Marriage is the beginning and pinnacle of civilization.
Who are we to say what's right for civilizations that were already thousands of years old when our own nation came into being?
Apart from the desire to produce beautiful things, the leading passion of my life has been and is hatred of modern civilization.
The luxuries of civilization satisfy only those wants which they themselves create.
Iraq is no diversion. It is a place where civilization is taking a decisive stand against chaos and terror, we must not waver.
Well, right now, I'm very fascinated with 1920s Berlin. I mean, probably the more interesting thing would be to go to the beginning of civilization or precivilization - like polytheistic times. It would be interesting to see what came before modern religion and culture - what circumstances created the environment or the need for it.
The people of Iran have been battling against consecutive conflicts between tradition and modernity for over 100 years. . . some have tried and are trying to see the world through the eyes of their predecessors and to deal with the problems and difficulties of the existing world by virtue of the values of the ancients. . . many others. . . seek to go forth in step with world developments and not lag behind the caravan of civilization, development and progress.
I think the theatre is as essential to civilization as safe, pure water.