Is man’s civilization only a wrappage, through which the savage nature of him can still burst, infernal as ever? – Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution, vol III, book V, chapter 7

Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity. – Thor Heyerdahl, Fatu-Hiva

A civilization in which there is not a continuous controversy about important issues is on the way to totalitarianism and death. – Robert Maynard Hutchins