Peace Is An Unstable Equilibrium,

Who Will Dare To Write A History Of Human Goodness?

Those Who Know Nothing About History Are Doomed Forever To Repeat It.

[h]istory Assures Us That Civilizations Decay Quite Leisurely.

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

So I Should Say That Civilizations Begin With Religion And Stoicism: They End With Scepticism And Unbelief, And The Undisciplined Pursuit Of Individual Pleasure. A Civilization Is Born Stoic And Dies Epicurean.