85 Civilized Behavior Quotes

Following is our list of civilized behavior quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about being civil.

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Famous Civilized Behavior Quotes

A civilized man is one who will give a serious answer to a serious question. Civilization itself is a certain sane balance of values. — Ezra Pound

Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing. — Robert E. Howard

for civilization to survive, the human race has to remain civilized. — Rod Serling

Courtesy is a silver lining around the dark clouds of civilization; it is the best part of refinement and in many ways, an art of heroic beauty in the vast gallery of man's cruelty and baseness. — Bryant H. McGill

The ability to engage in reasoned discourse, even when you passionately disagree with someone, is the hallmark of a civilized society. — Bret Weinstein

Courtesy is a silver lining around the dark clouds of civilization; it is the best part of refinement and, in many ways, an art of heroic beauty in the vast gallery of man's cruelty and baseness. — Bryant H. McGill

Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men. — Ayn Rand

Civility does not ...mean the mere outward gentleness of speech cultivated for the occasion, but an inborn gentleness and desire to do the opponent good. — Mahatma Gandhi

Civilized life has altogether grown too tame, and, if it is to be stable, it must provide a harmless outlets for the impulses which our remote ancestors satisfied in hunting. — Bertrand Russell

The triumph of persuasion over force is the sign of a civilized society. — Mark Skousen

Civility costs nothing. — Proverbs

Civilization is the lamb's skin in which barbarism masquerades. — Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Anyone can be a barbarian; it requires a terrible effort to remain a civilized man. — Leonard Woolf

The most civilized people are as near to barbarism as the most polished steel is to rust. Nations, like metals, have only a superficial brilliancy. — Antoine Rivarol

The sign of a person who has had an education is good manners. — Sai Baba

Short Civilized Behavior Quotes

  • Civility costs nothing, and buys everything. — Mary Wortley Montagu
  • Civility is not a sign of weakness. — John F. Kennedy
  • Civilization is the encouragement of differences. — Mahatma Gandhi
  • We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others. — Will Rogers
  • Fine manners need the support of fine manners in others. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Cruelty is contagious in uncivilized communities. — Harriet Ann Jacobs
  • One of the tests of the civilization of people is the treatment of its criminals. — Rutherford B. Hayes
Civilized behavior quote Don’t let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.
Don’t let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.

Being Civilized Quotes

I prefer the company of animals more than the company of humans. Certainly, a wild animal is cruel. But to be merciless is the privilege of civilized humans. — Sigmund Freud

I believe it to be the duty of everyone to unite in the restoration of the country and the reestablishment of peace and harmony. — Robert E. Lee

There are but two parties now: traitors and patriots. And I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter and, I trust, the stronger party. — Ulysses S. Grant

Civilized behavior quote Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior.
Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior.

We want women leaders today as never before. Leaders who are not afraid to be called names and who are willing to go out and fight. I think women can save civilization. Women are persons. — Emily Murphy

Freedom, by definition, is people realizing that they are their own leaders. — Diane Nash

Every civilization: Hindu, Buddhist, Confucianist, Christian, Jewish and Muslim, all of them understood that LEARNING was to make a BETTER HUMAN BEING, LEARNING was NOT to MAKE MORE MONEY; It was to make a BETTER HUMAN BEING. — Hamza Yusuf

Civilized behavior quote Be the silent watcher of your thoughts and behavior. You are beneath the thinker. You are the stilln
Be the silent watcher of your thoughts and behavior. You are beneath the thinker. You are the stillness beneath the mental noise. You are the love and joy beneath the pain.

Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ancient Egypt was a Negro Civilization. The history of Black Africa will remain suspended in air and cannot be written correctly until African historians dare to connect it with the history of Egypt. — Cheikh Anta Diop

Let America be America, where equality is in the air we breathe. - Langston Hughes

Let America be America, where equality is in the air we breathe. — Langston Hughes

The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. — John Stuart Mill

Being Civil Quotes

Remember civil and religious liberty always go together: if the foundation of the one be sapped, the other will fall of course. — Alexander Hamilton

It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.... Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less — Susan B. Anthony

Because I'm a civil rights activist, I am also an animal rights activist. Animals and humans suffer and die alike. Violence causes the same pain, the same spilling of blood, the same stench of death, the same arrogant, cruel and vicious taking of life. We shouldn't be a part of it. — Dick Gregory

Civilized behavior quote Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.
Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.

We must go beyond the arrogance of human rights. We must go beyond the ignorance of civil rights. We must step into the reality of natural rights because all of the natural world has a right to existence and we are only a small part of it. There can be no trade-off. — John Trudell

The President is no more than a well-meaning baboon. I went to the White House directly after tea, where I found "The Original Gorilla", about as intelligent as ever. What a specimen to be at the head of our affairs now. — George B. McClellan

I am quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think vainly, flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done. — John Brown

Civilized behavior quote Instead of trying to change another person's behavior, try changing the way you react. Acceptance wi
Instead of trying to change another person's behavior, try changing the way you react. Acceptance without expectations is less stressful.

The civil rights of none, shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed. — James Madison

If your Bible tells you that gay people ought not be married in your church, don't tell them they can't be married at city hall. Marriage is a civil rite as well a civil right, and we can't let religious bigotry close the door to justice to anyone. — Julian Bond

Civilization as we know it today would be in jeopardy if the Republicans win the Senate. — Nancy Pelosi

Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. In all of his teachings about multiple things - he never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies. — Jimmy Carter

Civilized Nations Quotes

The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally. — Patrick Pearse

We were granted the right to exist by the God of our fathers at the glimmer of the dawn of human civilization nearly 4,000 years ago. For that right, which has been sanctified in Jewish blood from generation to generation, we have paid a price unexampled in the annals of the nations. — Menachem Begin

The spirit of man is more important than mere physical strength, and the spiritual fiber of a nation than its wealth. The Bible is endorsed by the ages. Our civilization is built upon its words. In no other book is there such a collection of inspired wisdom, reality, and hope. — Dwight D. Eisenhower

Civilized behavior quote Anti-social behavior is a trait of intelligence in a world full of conformists.
Anti-social behavior is a trait of intelligence in a world full of conformists.

It is an honor to be awarded with such a high rating from an organization as well respected as the NAACP. I am pleased that the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the nation, has recognized my voting record. — Joe Baca

I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have in it now. I believe it has a glorious future before it - not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization. — Harry S. Truman

Finland had a civil war less than 100 years ago, just like in Ireland. If you look at the history of newly independent nations, civil war is almost every time present, even in the United States. — Harri Holkeri

Civilized behavior quote Thousands of tired, never-shaken, over civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the
Thousands of tired, never-shaken, over civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountain is going home, that wilderness is a necessity.

An enforced uniformity of religion throughout a nation or civil state, confounds the civil and religious, denies the principles of Christianity and civility, and that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. — Roger Williams

If we lose the virile, manly qualities, and sink into a nation of mere hucksters, putting gain over national honor, and subordinating everything to mere ease of life, then we shall indeed reach a condition worse than that of the ancient civilizations in the years of their decay. — Theodore Roosevelt

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. — Thomas Jefferson

The Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. — John Adams

People Writing About Civilized Behavior

Name Quotes Likes
Read quotes by Bryant H. McGill

Bryant H. McGill
quotes on leadership, life and education

1293 4786
Read quotes by Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi
quotes on education, leadership and success

3167 39957
Read quotes by Ezra Pound

Ezra Pound
quotes on love

226 1759
Read quotes by Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard
quotes on leadership, life and robert e howard

85 382
Read quotes by Rod Serling

Rod Serling
quotes on life

139 1909
Read quotes by Bret Weinstein

Bret Weinstein
quotes on diversity, religion and intelligence

77 1

More Civilized Behavior Quotes

Aspire to decency. Practice civility toward one another. Admire and emulate ethical behavior wherever you find it. Apply a rigid standard of morality to your lives; and if, periodically, you fail ­ as you surely will adjust your lives, not the standards. — Ted Koppel

No matter how civilized we are and how much society has curbed violent behavior. Human beings still have the same genes they had 10,000 years ago. Our bodies are designed to have a certain amount of physical stress and violence in them. We're designed to run from jaguars and fight to defend our territory. — Joe Rogan

Policemen and laws can never replace customs, traditions and moral values as a means for regulating human behavior. At best, the police and criminal justice system are the last desperate line of defense for a civilized society. Our increased reliance on laws to regulate behavior is a measure of how uncivilized we’ve become. — D. Todd Christofferson

We will not make inroads into the gun-violence problem until we acknowledge the underlying causes of youth behavior today, compared to yesterday. ... we must come to the realization that laws and regulations alone cannot produce a civilized society. It's morality that is society's first line of defense against uncivilized behavior. — Walter E. Williams

Standing up to bullies is the hallmark of a civilized society. — Robert Reich

You cannot take any people, of any color, and exempt them from the requirements of civilization - including work, behavioral standards, personal responsibility, and all the other basic things that the clever intelligentsia disdain - without ruinous consequences to them and to society at large. — Thomas Sowell

Becoming more flexible, open-minded, having a capacity to deal with change is a good thing. But it is far from the whole story. Grandparents, in the absence of the social institutions that once demanded civilized behavior, have their work cut out for them. Our grandchildren are hungry for our love and approval, but also for standards being set. — Eda LeShan

In civilized communities men's idiosyncrasies are mitigated by the necessity of conforming to certain rules of behavior. Culture is a mask that hides their faces. — W. Somerset Maugham

The Bible tells us to be like God, and then on page after page it describes God as a mass murderer. This may be the single most important key to the political behavior of Western Civilization. — Robert Anton Wilson

When man learns to understand and control his own behavior as well as he is learning to understand and control the behavior of crop plants and domestic animals, he may be justified in believing that he has become civilized. — E. G. Stakman

It seems to me that we have to draw the line in sibling rivalry whenever rivalry goes out of bounds into destructive behavior of aphysical or verbal kind. The principle needs to be this: Whatever the reasons for your feelings you will have to find civilized solutions. — Selma Fraiberg

When man learns to understand and control his own behavior as well as he is learning to understand and control the behavior of crop plants and domestic animals, he may be justified in believing that he has become civilized. — Ayn Rand

We do not consider patriotism desirable if it contradicts civilized behavior. — Friedrich Durrenmatt

The measure of civilized behavior is compassion. — Paul Theroux

The civilizing process has increased the distance between behavior and the impulse life of the animal body. — Shoshana Zuboff

To me, every fundamentalist Muslim, no matter how peaceable in his own behavior, is part of a murderous movement and is thus, in some fashion, a foot soldier in the war that bin Laden has launched against civilization. — Daniel Pipes

In the criminal justice system you see the worst people on their best behavior, unlike the civil system, where the best people behave at their worst. — Edna Buchanan

In a free society we will tolerate boorish people, who have abhorrent behavior, but if we're civilized people we publicly criticize that and don't belong to those groups or associate with those people. — Rand Paul

Civilization has little to fear from educated people and brain-workers. In them the replacement of religious motives for civilized behaviors by other, secular motives, would proceed unobtrusively. . . . — Sigmund Freud

It's interesting sometimes to read about the last days of past civilizations. It's hard not to notice during these readings that those last days were filled with completely irrational ideas and behaviors that could not be explained in any way outside of a mass collapse of reason. — David Horowitz

This civilization is the work of man, who high-handedly and ignorant of the true workings of Nature, has created a world without meaning or foundation, which now threatens to destroy him, for through his behavior and his activities, he, who should be her master, has disturbed Nature's inherent unity. — Viktor Schauberger

What is the use of this fuss about morality when the issue only involves a horse? The first and most difficult teaching of civilization concerns man's behavior to his inferiors. Make humanity gentle or reasonable toward animals, and strife or injustice between human beings would speedily terminate. — Dr Edward Mayhew

Most societies wipe themselves out and it's interesting to read about the last days of past civilizations. You'll note that the last days of past civilizations were filled with idiotic, irrational ideas and behaviors that couldn't be explained by reason. — Rush Limbaugh

Any move by Israel to end the conflict with the Palestinians by unilateral moves - such as annexing the West Bank, delinking Gaza and declaring that there be no further diplomatic process - will lead to strong regional and global reactions, as well as intensify efforts at the UN and in civil society to brand Israel as an outlaw state dangerous to regional and world peace and guilty of criminal behavior. — Richard A. Falk

To go back to a moment of Western civilization remote enough in time so that we should be able to look at it dispassionately, ask what happened during World War I. What was the typical behavior of respected intellectuals in Germany, England, the United States? What happened to those who publicly questioned the nobility of the war effort, on both sides? I do not think the answers are untypical. — Noam Chomsky

Civilization means conforming to a standard of behavior that may not seem natural to us. — Andy Rooney

Don't overlook the significance of your smallest opportunities for civilized behavior throughout each day. The future has no bigger moments than we experience right now. The world changes for the better with every act of kindness, and for the worse with every act of cruelty. The future is nothing grander than the very next moment, and it arrives solely from the present. — Bo Lozoff

Whamming someone smaller than oneself in order to teach that person civilized behavior is not within Miss Manners' concept of propriety, much less logic. — Judith Martin

Most of us still believe in the intrinsic value of nature, but I think the first century of the environmental/conservation movement demonstrated pretty clearly that this value cannot compel a civilization-wide shift toward sustainable behavior and enterprise when stacked up against the urgent economic and social needs of 7 billion people, most of whom are struggling to get out of poverty. — Edward Norton

The civil forfeiture law - if something so devoid of due process can be dignified as law - is an incentive for perverse behavior: Predatory government agencies get to pocket the proceeds from property they seize from Americans without even charging them with, let alone convicting them of, crimes. Criminals are treated better than this because they lose the fruits of their criminality only after being convicted. — George Will

I'm the Duke of Riverside. I build things here and pretty much keep the peace, and discourage certain behaviors. If you think all that has been achieved through entirely civil and lawful means, you've had your head in a bucket. — Ellen Kushner

We have to learn to deal with this situation and prepare for contact. Studying the behavior pattern of the phenomenon, I came to the conclusion that they are neither friend nor foe, but study our planet and civilization from a mainly scientific perspective. They are as curious to learn more about us, as we would love to study other human and humanoid civilizations. — Michael Hesemann

I could not but wonder at the queen's unprecedented civility, until I realized with a flush of shame that it was my own improved behavior that motivated hers. So it is that we in life determine our own treatment. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

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