Angkor is perhaps the greatest of Man’s essays in rectangular architecture that has yet been brought to life. — Arnold J. Toynbee

It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it. — Arnold J. Toynbee

A life which does not go into action is a failure. — Arnold J. Toynbee

History not used is nothing, for all intellectual life is action, like practical life, and if you don’t use the stuff well, it might as well be dead. — Arnold J. Toynbee

Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm. — Arnold J. Toynbee

Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder. — Arnold Toynbee

Civilizations in decline are consistently characterised by a tendency towards standardization and uniformity. — Arnold Toynbee

To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization. — Arnold J. Toynbee

I do not believe that civilizations have to die because civilization is not an organism. It is a product of wills. — Arnold J. Toynbee

Militarism has been by far the commonest cause of the breakdown of civilizations. The single art of war makes progress at the expense of all the arts of peace. — Arnold Joseph Toynbee

Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor. — Arnold J. Toynbee

Of the twenty–two civilizations that have appeared in history, nineteen of them collapsed when they reached the moral state the United States is in now. — Arnold J. Toynbee

The only real struggle in the history of the world … is between the vested interest and social justice. — Arnold J. Toynbee

Some historians hold that history is just one damned thing after another. — Arnold Joseph Toynbee

History is a vision of God’s creation on the move. — Arnold J. Toynbee

The human race’s prospects of survival were considerably better when we were defenceless against tigers than they are today when we have become defenceless against ourselves. — Arnold J. Toynbee

As human beings, we are endowed with freedom of choice, and we cannot shuffle off our responsibility upon the shoulders of God or nature. We must shoulder it ourselves. It is our responsibility. — Arnold J. Toynbee

Human dignity can be achieved only in the field of ethics, and ethical achievement is measured by the degree in which our actions are governed by compassion and love, not by greed and aggressiveness. — Arnold J. Toynbee

Society is the total network of relations between human beings. The components of society are thus not human beings but relations between them. — Arnold Joseph Toynbee

Adversity in the things of this world opens the door for spiritual salvation. — Arnold J. Toynbee

The equation of religion with belief is rather recent. — Arnold J. Toynbee

The aim of all education is, or should be, to teach people to educate themselves. — Arnold J. Toynbee

No being can be what he is unless he is putting his essence into action in his field. — Arnold J. Toynbee

The value of the goal lies in the goal itself; and therefore the goal cannot be attained unless it is pursued for its own sake. — Arnold J. Toynbee