Words matter. These are the best Arthur Keith Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
In a tribal organization, even in time of peace, service to tribe or state predominates over all self seeking; in war, service for the tribe or state becomes supreme, and personal liberty is suspended.
In every man there is an instinctive and passionate reaction if his person or liberty is attacked.
Tribal life comes automatically to an end when a primitive people begins to live in a town or a city, for sooner or later a tribal organization is found to be incompatible with life in a city.
Tolerance is held to be a condition of mind which is encouraged by, and is necessary for, civilization.
My personal conviction is that science is concerned wholly with truth, not with ethics.
I prize the conditions under which I have lived because they have permitted me to choose my opportunities, to inquire into such matters as interested me, and to publish what I believed to be true, uncontrolled by any central authority.
Universalism as an ideal is as old as nay, is probably much more ancient than the Christian ideal.
Civilization never stands still; if in one country it is falling back, in another it is changing, evolving, becoming more complicated, bringing fresh experience to body and mind, breeding new desires, and exploiting Nature’s cupboard for their satisfaction.
It is just because civilization is ever evolving, changing, and becoming more complicated, that experts find it so difficult to define it in explicit terms.
Nowhere is Universalism welcomed and encouraged by a people; everywhere governments have forced and are forcing Universalism upon unwilling and resistant subjects.
The discovery of agriculture was the first big step toward a civilized life.
There are the further difficulties of building a population out of a diversity of races, each at a different stage of cultural evolution, some in need of restraint, many in need of protection; everywhere a bewildering Babel of tongues.
Man is by nature competitive, combative, ambitious, jealous, envious, and vengeful.
Before the discovery of agriculture mankind was everywhere so divided, the size of each group being determined by the natural fertility of its locality.
Reason has not tamed desire: it is as strong as ever.
