Probably no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both.

—Abraham Flexner

war choice nations wealth civilization

About Abraham Flexner

Portrait of Abraham Flexner

Abraham Flexner (November 13, 1866 – September 21, 1959), an American educator, became best known for his role in the 20th-century reform of medical and higher education in the United States and Canada.

More quotations tagged with “civilization”

A civilization which tends to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a fortunate few, and to make of others mere human machines, must inevitably evolve anarchy and bring destruction.

—Henry George

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This increasingly intelligent, fast-moving civilization needs to be applying some of its intelligence to things that change slowly.… If we are constantly tending to the immediate, day-to-day problems, we'll lose that sense of the long term, and then we could be really sorry.

—Stewart Brand

intelligence time perception perspective change civilization

Civilization is the process of reducing the infinite to the finite.

—Oliver Wendell Holmes

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You can't say that civilization don't advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way.

war death killing civilization

To have doubted one's own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.

—Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

certainty doubt principles civilization civilized

History

23 Nov 2014 Added