---
title: "2 Civilized society Quotes By Gwynne Dyer"
description: "2 Civilized society quotes by Gwynne Dyer. Plus more from Gwynne Dyer and more Civilized society sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7b/gwynne-dyer-29209_changed_war-is-part-of-our-history-but-it-is-not_449753.jpg"
---

> [War is part of our history, but it is not in at all the same sense part of our prehistory. It is one of the innovations that occurred between nine and eleven thousand years ago when the first civilized societies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/war-is-part-of-our-history-but-it-is-not-in-at-all-the-same-sense/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7b/gwynne-dyer-29209_changed_war-is-part-of-our-history-but-it-is-not_449753.jpg)

> [For most of history, war has been a more or less functional institution, providing benefits for those societies that were good at it, although the cost in money, in lives, and in suffering was always significant. Only in the past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/for-most-of-history-war-has-been-a-more-or-less-functional/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26e/gwynne-dyer-29209_assumption_for-most-of-history-war-has-been-a-more_1536081.png)

## Other authors on Civilized society

- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-abhijit-naskar-99.jpg) Abhijit Naskar 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-society/abhijit-naskar/)

## More by Gwynne Dyer

> [The military profession, especially is the long-established great powers, is deeply pessimistic about the likelihood that people and countries will behave well under stress.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/the-military-profession-especially-is-the-long-established-great/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [ It doesn't matter what we think we are there \[in Afghanistan\] for; it matters what they think. They think we are invaders. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/it-doesn-t-matter-what-we-think-we-are-there-in-afghanistan-for-it/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [There is a point of no return after which warming becomes unstoppable - and we are probably going to sail right through it. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/there-is-a-point-of-no-return-after-which-warming-becomes-unstoppable/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [War is part of our history, but it is not in at all the same sense part of our prehistory. It is one of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/war-is-part-of-our-history-but-it-is-not-in-at-all-the-same-sense/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [The real requirement, if we are to avoid runaway global warming, is probably 80% by 2030, and almost no burning whatever of fossil fuels…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/the-real-requirement-if-we-are-to-avoid-runaway-global-warming-is/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [The first and most important impact of climate change on human civilisation will be an acute and permanent crisis of food supply. Eating regularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/the-first-and-most-important-impact-of-climate-change-on-human/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [ The scientists are really scared. Their \[global warming\] observations over the past two or three years suggest that everything is happening a lot faster… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/the-scientists-are-really-scared-their-global-warming-observations/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [ But we are almost certainly going to miss our \[global warming\] deadline. We cannot get the 10 lost years back, and by the time… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/but-we-are-almost-certainly-going-to-miss-our-global-warming-deadline/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [Take the year a country first reaches 50% literacy and add one or two generations to allow the idea to sink in and, democracy,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/take-the-year-a-country-first-reaches-50-literacy-and-add-one-or-two/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [For most of history, war has been a more or less functional institution, providing benefits for those societies that were good at it, although…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/for-most-of-history-war-has-been-a-more-or-less-functional/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [ Never did anyone ever stay longer than ten years because the resistance grows fiercer as your presence grows longer \[in Afghanistan\]. I don't think… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/never-did-anyone-ever-stay-longer-than-ten-years-because-the/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [Fiat justitia, ruat coelum. (Do the right thing even if the heavens fall.) It's not nearly as naïve a maxim as it seems, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/fiat-justitia-ruat-coelum-do-the-right-thing-even-if-the-heavens-fall/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [“What makes the Arabs suitable candidates for democracy is their heritage as human beings, not their specific cultural or historical antecedents.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/what-makes-the-arabs-suitable-candidates-for-democracy-is-their/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [Now, for the moment, we are safe. The only kind of international violence that worries most people in the developed countries is terrorism: from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/now-for-the-moment-we-are-safe-the-only-kind-of-international/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

> [While the high-level climate talks pursue their stately progress towards some ill-defined destination, down in the trenches there is an undercurrent of suppressed panic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/while-the-high-level-climate-talks-pursue-their-stately-progress/)

[Gwynne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwynne-dyer/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-society/gwynne-dyer/#itemlist",
            "name": "2 Civilized society Quotes By Gwynne Dyer",
            "numberOfItems": 2,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "War is part of our history, but it is not in at all the same sense part of our prehistory. It is one of the innovations that occurred between nine and eleven thousand years ago when the first civilized societies were coming into being. What has been invented can be changed; war is not in our genes.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Gwynne Dyer"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/war-is-part-of-our-history-but-it-is-not-in-at-all-the-same-sense/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7b/gwynne-dyer-29209_changed_war-is-part-of-our-history-but-it-is-not_449753.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7b/gwynne-dyer-29209_changed_war-is-part-of-our-history-but-it-is-not_449753.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7b/gwynne-dyer-29209_changed_war-is-part-of-our-history-but-it-is-not_449753.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“War is part of our history, but it is not in at all the same sense part of our prehistory. It is one of the…” — Gwynne Dyer",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "For most of history, war has been a more or less functional institution, providing benefits for those societies that were good at it, although the cost in money, in lives, and in suffering was always significant. Only in the past century have large numbers of people begun to question the basic assumption of civilized societies that war is inevitable and often useful.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Gwynne Dyer"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwynne-dyer/for-most-of-history-war-has-been-a-more-or-less-functional/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26e/gwynne-dyer-29209_assumption_for-most-of-history-war-has-been-a-more_1536081.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26e/gwynne-dyer-29209_assumption_for-most-of-history-war-has-been-a-more_1536081.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26e/gwynne-dyer-29209_assumption_for-most-of-history-war-has-been-a-more_1536081.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“For most of history, war has been a more or less functional institution, providing benefits for those…” — Gwynne Dyer",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-society/gwynne-dyer/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-society/gwynne-dyer/",
            "name": "Civilized society Quotes by Gwynne Dyer",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-society/gwynne-dyer/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7b/gwynne-dyer-29209_changed_war-is-part-of-our-history-but-it-is-not_449753.jpg"
            },
            "description": "2 Civilized society quotes by Gwynne Dyer. Plus more from Gwynne Dyer and more Civilized society sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-society/gwynne-dyer/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-society/gwynne-dyer/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Civilized Society",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-society/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Gwynne Dyer",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-society/gwynne-dyer/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```