Societal collapse

Explore 10 quotes about Societal collapse

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.

America, if eligible at all to downfall and ruin, is eligible within herself, not without.

Walt Whitman

Democratic Vistas

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Topic

American decline Societal collapse America

Author

Walt Whitman

Source

Democratic Vistas

Medium

Essay

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Whitman, Walt. Democratic Vistas. Washington D.C.: J. S. Redfield, 1871.

Current Citation

Whitman, Walt. Democratic Vistas, edited by Ed Folsom. University Of Iowa Press, 2009.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

Abraham Lincoln

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Topic

American decline Societal collapse America

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

Address before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1838 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions." 27 Jan. 1838, Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, IL, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Address to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, January 27, 1838." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1832-1858, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

It was not the power of the Spaniards that destroyed the Aztec Empire but the disbelief of the Aztecs in themselves.

E.F. Schumacher

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Topic

Societal collapse Self-doubt

Author

E.F. Schumacher

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Schumacher, Ernst Friedrich. Roots of Economic Growth. Gandhian Institute of Studies, 1962.

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.

Machines are gonna fail and the system's gonna fail...then...then, survival. Who has the ability to survive? That's the game—survive.

Deliverance

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Topic

Survival Societal collapse The system

Speaker

Lewis

Actor

Burt Reynolds

Source

Deliverance

Medium

Film

Genre

Survival (film) Thriller (film) Thriller Survival

Language

English

Time

1972 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Deliverance. Directed by John Boorman, Elmer Enterprises, 1972.

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

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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.

The people will live on.
The learning and blundering people will live on.
They will be tricked and sold and again sold
And go back to the nourishing earth for rootholds.

Carl Sandburg

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Topic

Societal collapse The human condition

Author

Carl Sandburg

Source

The People, Yes

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sandburg, Carl. The People, Yes. Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1936, no. 107.

Perhaps it is historically true that no order of society ever perishes save by its own hand.

John Maynard Keynes

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Read The Economic Consequences of the Peace at Project Gutenberg

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Topic

Societal collapse Civilization

Author

John Maynard Keynes

Source

The Economic Consequences of the Peace

Genre

Economic literature

Language

English

Time

1919 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Keynes, John Maynard. The Economic Consequences of the Peace. Self-published, 1919, ch. 6.

Current Citation

Keynes, John Maynard. "The Economic Consequences of the Peace." The Essential Keynes, edited by Robert Skidelsky. Penguin, 2016, ch. 6.