Decline of civilization

Explore 13 quotes about Decline of civilization

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.

W.B. Yeats

The Second Coming

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Topic

Dissolution Decline of civilization Societal collapse Political polarization Politics

Author

W.B. Yeats

Source

The Second Coming

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "The Second Coming." The Dial, Nov. 1920.

Current Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "The Second Coming." W. B. Yeats: The Major Works, edited by Edward Larrissy. Oxford University Press, 2008.

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

T.S. Eliot

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Topic

End of the world Decline of civilization Societal collapse

Author

T.S. Eliot

Source

The Hollow Men

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Eliot, T. S. "The Hollow Men." Poems: 1909-1925. Faber and Gwyer, 1925, pt. 5.

Current Citation

Eliot, T. S. "The Hollow Men." The Waste Land and Other Poems. Vintage, 2021, pt. 5.

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

W.B. Yeats

The Second Coming

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Topic

Decline of civilization Moral decline

Author

W.B. Yeats

Source

The Second Coming

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "The Second Coming." The Dial, Nov. 1920.

Current Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "The Second Coming." W. B. Yeats: The Major Works, edited by Edward Larrissy. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Only two things does he anxiously wish for-bread and circuses.

Juvenal

Satires

On the modern (at that time) Roman citizen.

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Topic

The masses Entertainment Purpose of life Decline of civilization

Author

Juvenal

Source

Satires

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

127 120s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Juvenal. Satirae [Satires]. c. 127, satire 10.

Current Citation

Juvenal. The Satires, translated by Niall Rudd. Oxford University Press, 2008, satire 10.

The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things-bread and circuses!

Juvenal

Satires

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Topic

Decline of civilization Decadence

Author

Juvenal

Source

Satires

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

127 120s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Juvenal. Satirae [Satires]. c. 127, satire 10.

Current Citation

Juvenal. The Satires, translated by Niall Rudd. Oxford University Press, 2008, satire 10.

What most people don't seem to realize is that there is just as much money to be made out of the wreckage of a civilization as from the upbuilding of one.

Margaret Mitchell

Gone with the Wind

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Topic

Decline of civilization

Author

Margaret Mitchell

Source

Gone with the Wind

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind. Macmillan Publishers, 1936, pt. 2, ch. 9.

Current Citation

Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind. Scribner, 2007, pt. 2, ch. 9.

The worst have lost their fear and the best have lost their hope.

Hannah Arendt

The Origins of Totalinarianism

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Topic

Decline of civilization Hopelessness and despair Disillusionment Hope

Author

Hannah Arendt

Source

The Origins of Totalinarianism

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Schocken Books, 1951, pt. 3, ch. 12, sec. 3.

The Roman world is falling, yet we hold our heads erect instead of bowing our necks.

St. Jerome

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Topic

Roman empire Societal collapse Decline of civilization

Author

St. Jerome

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

396 390s 4th century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Saint Jerome. Letter to Heliodorus. c. 396, sect. 16.

Current Citation

Saint Jerome. "Letter LX." Select Letters of Saint Jerome. Aeterna Press, 2015, sect. 16.

Egypt's might is tumbled down
Down a-down the deeps of thought;
Greece is fallen and Troy town,
Glorious Rome hath lost her crown,
Venice' pride is nought.
But the dreams their children dreamed
Fleeting, unsubstantial, vain
Shadowy as the shadows seemed
Airy nothing, as they deemed,
These remain.

Mary Coleridge

Egypt's Might is Tumbled Down

More information about this quote

Topic

Decline of civilization Societal collapse Impermanence

Author

Mary Coleridge

Source

Egypt's Might is Tumbled Down

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Coleridge, Mary. "Egypt's Might is Tumbled Down." Poems. London: Elkin Mathews, 1908, I. 1.

It is closing time in the gardens of the West and from now on an artist will be judged only by the resonance of his solitude or the quality of his despair.

Cyril Connolly

More information about this quote

Topic

Decline of the West Decline of civilization Western Civilization

Author

Cyril Connolly

Source

Horizon

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

1950 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Connolly, Cyril. Quoted in Horizon. Dec. 1949 - Jan. 1950.

It's a stinking world because there's no law and order anymore! It's a stinking world because it lets the young get on to the old, like you done. Oh, it's no world for an old man any longer. What sort of a world is it at all? Men on the moon, and men spinning around the earth, and there's not no attention paid to earthly law and order no more.

A Clockwork Orange

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More information about this quote

Topic

Law and order Moral decline Decline of civilization

Speaker

Tramp

Actor

Paul Farrell

Source

A Clockwork Orange

Medium

Film

Genre

Dystopian (film) Crime (film) Dystopian Crime

Language

English

Time

1971 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

A Clockwork Orange. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Polaris Productions/Hawk Films, 1971.

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

More information about this quote

Topic

Decline of civilization

Speaker

Arnold J. Toynbee

Language

English

Time

1947 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Toynbee, Arnold J. Quoted in A Study of History: Abridgement of Volumes I-VI, written by D.C. Somervell. Oxford University Press, 1948, vol. 4.

The world is becoming like a lunatic asylum run by lunatics.

David Lloyd George

Quoted in Observer

More information about this quote

Topic

Decline of civilization The world Decline

Speaker

David Lloyd George

Source

Observer

Medium

Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

George, David Lloyd. The Observer. 8 Jan. 1933.