Ben Carson Quotes

If mankind were to continue in other than the present barbarism, a new path must be found, a new civilization based on some other method than technology.

Barbarism is not the inheritance of our pre-history. It is the companion that dogs our every step.

Wars, however frequent and destructive they may be, have never been able to kill entirely the intellectual and moral sense which raises man above the beast.

The rise of man from the animal to the human level was prolonged by the necessity of rising from a state of barbarism and violence to one of order and peace.

Without civilization, we would not turn into animals, but vegetables.

The history of the world demonstrates that man becomes what we call civilized by increasing his wants.

A certain degree of progress from the rudest state in which man is found,—a dweller in caves, or on trees, like an ape, a cannibal, an eater of pounded snails, worms, and offal,—a certain degree of progress from this extreme is called Civilization.

The inclination to aggression constitutes the greatest impediment to civilization.

To deal with the true causes of war one must begin by recognizing as of prime relevancy to the solution of the problem the familiar fact that civilization is a partial, incomplete, and, to a great extent, superficial modification of barbarism.

Although there exist in the world today some microbes of the soul, such as discrimination and aggression, science was and still is the core of progress for humanity and the continuity of civilization.

We have come to Earth in this great season in the long history of mankind. It is a marvelous age - the best of all.

No universal history leads from savagery to humanitarianism, but there is one leading from the slingshot to the atom bomb.

Civilization develops man, and if he is, according to his whole character and destiny, made for development, civilization is his truly natural state …

The progress made in refinement of manners and morals seems to have gone on simultaneously with the improvement in arts, manufactures and commerce. It moved slowly at first, but has been constantly increasing in velocity…. we are a much better people than we were then, better instructed, more sincere and kind-hearted, less gross and brutal, and have fewer of the concomitant vices of a less civilized state.

It is common to think of our own time as standing on the apex of human history.

Our civilizations have evolved. The solutions we can find for the things that keep us somewhat primitive and base and ugly in our desires can improve and become more sophisticated. Sometimes there's a disconnect between that. My car can drive, but we can't get rid of violence.

It has been said that civilization is twenty-four hours and two meals away from barbarism.

For how many thousands of years now have we humans been what we insist on calling "civilized?" And yet, in total contradiction, we also persist in the savage belief that we must occasionally, at least, settle our arguments by killing one another.

We're on this rock and we can choose to treat each other well or we can choose to kill each other and be uncivilized. I don't know. It's very tragic. It's a very tragic thing to think about.

Are we savages or what?

Civilization does not have to perish. The brutes are winning only by default.

Is it possible that nobody has ever known that there never has been a completely civilized man, and won't be for another thousand years?

Civilization is a hopeless race to discover remedies for the evils it produces.

It is inherent in human consciousness to improve. So there is nothing unique about a people searching for and creating ways to make their life better - all civilizations throughout history have done this. What is unique about us in America is the accelerated rate at which we continually search for novelty and progress.

War is a specific product of civilization.