Arnold J. Toynbee

“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.”

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

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

“History is a vision of God's creation on the move.”

“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.”

“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.”

“To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization.”

“The equation of religion with belief is rather recent.”

“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.”

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