history isn't cyclical

Lord of Saltwood

 

"Courtesy is the foundation of civilization."
- Kenneth Clark [1903-1983]

Why art?

Battle Between Marduk And Zu, Sumerian c. 3500 BCE

"Art helps to form the connective glue of society. It is no accident that art is a feature of every human civilization that has ever existed. Furthermore, the enjoyment of art plays a direct part in the life of each individual person. In other words, an individual may spend part of his time reading books, part of the time looking at paintings, etc. Even if the time we spent listening to music had no effect whatsoever upon our other activities that time would still represent some not insignificant fraction of our lives. However art does affect our other activities, and in some sense our whole life. Art connects us to our souls; it expresses our deepest feelings and validates them for us."
- Michael H. Hart [born 1932]

What do you think of Western Civilization?

Gandhi [1869-1948]: "I think it would be a good idea."

Homo homini lupus

"Man is a wolf to man."

"Thoughts for the Times on War and Death"

 

Sigmund Freud [1856-1939] observes Germany's fall from the apex of civilization to brutality here.

unconscious forces

“The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization.”
- Sigmund Freud [1856-1939]

saga

“Most of the basic truths of life sound absurd at first hearing.” ... "Nothing living should ever be treated with contempt. Whatever it is that lives, a man, a tree, or a bird, should be touched gently, because the time is short. Civilization is another word for respect for life."
– Elizabeth Goudge [1900-1984]

"Tamil Nadu is the most splendid province on earth [and is the world's last surviving classical civilization]."
- Marco Polo

uncontacted tribes

civilization

What they undertook to do
They brought to pass;
All things hang like a drop of dew
Upon a blade of grass.
- William Butler Yeats [1865-1939]

Image source here.