On this showing, the nature of the breakdowns of civilizations can be summed up in three points: a failure of creative power in the minority, an answering withdrawal of mimesis on the part of the majority, and a consequent loss of social unity in the society as a whole.

Arnold J. Toynbee

Categorized in : Civilization Loss Creative

Of the twenty-two civilizations that have appeared in history, nineteen of them collapsed when they reached the moral state the United States is in now.

Arnold J. Toynbee

umpires civilization two

Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.

Arnold J. Toynbee

murder suicide civilization

Religion holds the solution to all problems of human relationship, whether they are between parents and children or nation and nation. Sooner or later, man has always had to decide whether he worships his own power or the power of God.

Arnold J. Toynbee

parent men children

Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor.

Arnold J. Toynbee

change wisdom art

The only real struggle in the history of the world ... is between the vested interest and social justice.

Arnold J. Toynbee

real struggle justice

Civilizations, I believe, come to birth and proceed to grow by successfully responding to successive challenges. They break down and go to pieces if and when a challenge confronts them that they fail to meet.

Arnold J. Toynbee

ifs-and civilization believe

The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue.

Arnold J. Toynbee

islamic freedom race

It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.

Arnold J. Toynbee

motivational inspirational believe

The aim of all education is, or should be, to teach people to educate themselves.

Arnold J. Toynbee

learning teaching success

The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.

Arnold J. Toynbee

determination work inspirational

Immaturity means self-centeredness, inability to compromise, to rise above hurt feelings, to postpone immediate pleasures in favor of future benefits, or to do unpleasant chores when they need to be done.

Arnold J. Toynbee

hurt self mean

Of the twenty or so civilizations known to modern Western historians, all except our own appear to be dead or moribund, and, when we diagnose each case... we invariably find that the cause of death has been either War or Class or some combination of the two.

Arnold J. Toynbee

class war civilization

Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things: first, an ideal, with takes the imagination by storm, and second, a definite intelligible plan for carrying that ideal into practice.

Arnold J. Toynbee

success motivational inspirational

As human beings, we are endowed with freedom of choice, and we cannot shuffle off our responsibility upon the shoulders of God or nature. We must shoulder it ourselves. It is our responsibility.

Arnold J. Toynbee

freedom choices responsibility

The absolute value of love makes life worth while, and so makes Man's strange and difficult situation acceptable. Love cannot save life from death; but it can fulfill life's purpose.

Arnold J. Toynbee

difficult-situations purpose men

The human race's prospects of survival were considerably better when we were defenceless against tigers than they are today when we have become defenceless against ourselves.

Arnold J. Toynbee

anger motivational inspirational

Material power that is not counterbalanced by adequate spiritual power, that is, by love and wisdom, is a curse

Arnold J. Toynbee

curse adequate spiritual

The world's greatest need . . . is mutual confidence. No human being ever knows all the secrets of another's heart. Yet there is enough confidence between mother and child, husband and wife, buyer and seller . . . to make social life a practical possibility. Confidence may be risky, but it is nothing like so risky as mistrust.

Arnold J. Toynbee

husband mother children

Sooner or later, man has always had to decide whether he worships his own power or the power of God.

Arnold J. Toynbee

power worship men

Man's true end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.

Arnold J. Toynbee

glorifying-god ends men