Science Without Philosophy, Facts Without Perspective And

The Great Snare Of Thought Is Uncritical Acceptance Of Irrational Assumptions.

Civilization Is A Stream With Banks. The Stream Is Sometimes Filled With Blood From People Killing, Stealing, Shouting And Doing The Things Historians Usually Record, While On The Banks, Unnoticed, People Build Homes, Make Love, Raise Children, Sing Songs, Write Poetry And Even Whittle Statues. The Story Of Civilization Is What Happened On The Banks.

A History Of Civilization Shares The Presumptuousness Of Every Philosophical Enterprise: It Offers The Ridiculous Spectacle Of A Fragment Expounding The Whole. Like Philosophy, Such A Venture Has No Rational Excuse, And Is At Best But A Brave Stupidity; But Let Us Hope That, Like Philosophy, It Will Always Lure Some Rash Spirits Into Its Fatal Depths.

Cultural Creation... Begins Where Chaos And Insecurity End.

To Say Nothing, Especially When Speaking, Is Half The Art Of Diplomacy.