---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The conventional wisdom says that…"
description: "\"“The conventional wisdom says that societies seem more civilized than they actually are.”\" — Dr. Ashok Anand"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/953/dr-ashok-anand-40131_conventional-wisdom_the-conventional-wisdom-says-that-societ_1666053.jpg"
---

#  The conventional wisdom says that societies seem more…

![“The conventional wisdom says that societies seem more civilized than they actually are.” quote by Dr. Ashok Anand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/953/dr-ashok-anand-40131_conventional-wisdom_the-conventional-wisdom-says-that-societ_1666053.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/953/dr-ashok-anand-40131_conventional-wisdom_the-conventional-wisdom-says-that-societ_1666053.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/953/dr-ashok-anand-40131_conventional-wisdom_the-conventional-wisdom-says-that-societ_1666053.jpg)

> ““The conventional wisdom says that societies seem more civilized than they actually are.””

[Dr. Ashok Anand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Societies appear more refined than they truly are, masking underlying flaws.

**In simple terms:** Societies seem more civilized than they are.

Key Takeaway

Question appearances, seek deeper truth.

Themes

civilization perception truth

Mood

reflective critical

Type

analytical philosophical

When to use this quote

- policy analysis
- media critique
- social research

Key Concepts

sociology critical thinking cognitive bias

Questions to Reflect On

- How do we uncover hidden societal problems?
- What metrics reveal true civic health?

A Different Perspective

Surface impressions can ignore systemic issues.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Civilized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized/) [Civilized Actually](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-actually-808664/) [Conventional wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conventional-wisdom/) [Says Societies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/says-societies-808665/) [Societies Civilized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/societies-civilized-808663/) [Society-s-increasing-stupidity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society-s-increasing-stupidity/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/)

## Related quotes

> [I look much more civilized than I actually am.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georgina-chapman/i-look-much-more-civilized-than-i-actually-am/)

[Georgina Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georgina-chapman/)

> [“Constantly exposing yourself to popular culture and the mass media will ultimately shape your reality tunnel in ways that are not necessarily conducive to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthon-st-maarten/constantly-exposing-yourself-to-popular-culture-and-the-mass-media/)

[Anthon St. Maarten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthon-st-maarten/)

> [“Revirgination surgery for women is the fastest growing segment within the Indian cosmetic surgery industry. But any culture that decides a woman’s worth by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mallika-nawal/revirgination-surgery-for-women-is-the-fastest-growing-segment-within/)

[Mallika Nawal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mallika-nawal/)

> [“You are who you are what you say you are to people, but who are you when no one is watching?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-are-who-you-are-what-you-say-you-are-to-people-but-who-are-you/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“When the Rule of Law disappears, we are ruled by the whims of men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiffany-madison/when-the-rule-of-law-disappears-we-are-ruled-by-the-whims-of-men/)

[Tiffany Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiffany-madison/)

> [“Logically, if you grow up here and you are open minded, you go to college and never come back. If you like it here,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-p-ching/logically-if-you-grow-up-here-and-you-are-open-minded-you-go-to/)

[G.P. Ching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-p-ching/)

> [“I'm immigrant. I'm democrat but I'm politically incorrect. We living in a colorblind society who been brained washed from liberals. I'm sorry but refuse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beta-metani-marashi/i-m-immigrant-i-m-democrat-but-i-m-politically-incorrect-we-living-in/)

[Beta Metani' Marashi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beta-metani-marashi/)

> [“The masses are not interested in the truth… they want to be entertained.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rohith-s-katbamna/the-masses-are-not-interested-in-the-truth-they-want-to-be-entertained/)

[Rohith S. Katbamna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rohith-s-katbamna/)

> [“The foundations of some formerly strong lands became so riddled with termites of diminished purpose, so decayed with the decadence of smug moderation, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/the-foundations-of-some-formerly-strong-lands-became-so-riddled-with/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [“The truth is: Everyone will judge you. But this depends upon your intellectual capacity whether you are able to distinguish constructive criticism between an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-truth-is-everyone-will-judge-you-but-this-depends-upon-your/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“In today's world the society appears to be a deviant and all people normal.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-abraham/in-today-s-world-the-society-appears-to-be-a-deviant-and-all-people/)

[Amit Abraham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-abraham/)

> [“Do you have a shoulder to cry on? Someone who would listen to your deepest woes without judging you? Or is it just you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sanhita-baruah/do-you-have-a-shoulder-to-cry-on-someone-who-would-listen-to-your/)

[Sanhita Baruah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sanhita-baruah/)

> [“Unfortunately, you are far more likely to be harmed or die prematurely as a direct result of modern society than you are from any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/unfortunately-you-are-far-more-likely-to-be-harmed-or-die-prematurely/)

[Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/)

> [Contrarian thinking at its best simply asks, Is this really true? It speaks up when the politically correct answer or the conventional wisdom doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-osborne/contrarian-thinking-at-its-best-simply-asks-is-this-really-true-it/)

[Larry Osborne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-osborne/)

> [Whether you are buying a car or casting a ballot, choosing a job or planning a family, follow your moral compass. Don't let others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-hayes/whether-you-are-buying-a-car-or-casting-a-ballot-choosing-a-job-or/)

[Denis Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-hayes/)

## More by Dr. Ashok Anand

> [“Life without love is nothing but a barren piece of land.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/life-without-love-is-nothing-but-a-barren-piece-of-land/)

[Dr. Ashok Anand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/)

> [“God has created us to Live, not merely to Exist.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/god-has-created-us-to-live-not-merely-to-exist/)

[Dr. Ashok Anand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/)

> [“The societies that abandon their responsibilities but claim rights, become the most intolerant and corrupt.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/the-societies-that-abandon-their-responsibilities-but-claim-rights/)

[Dr. Ashok Anand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/)

> [“Only the man’s greed and scientific development is responsible for earth’s degradation of environment and ecology.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/only-the-man-s-greed-and-scientific-development-is-responsible-for/)

[Dr. Ashok Anand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/)

> [“There exists much more stupidity in the world than intelligence. Intelligence, however, is intelligence just because the stupidity exists.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/there-exists-much-more-stupidity-in-the-world-than-intelligence/)

[Dr. Ashok Anand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/)

> [“Always being too nice to others, may prove disastrous many times.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/always-being-too-nice-to-others-may-prove-disastrous-many-times/)

[Dr. Ashok Anand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/)

> [“Without a purpose, goal and vision, life becomes animalistic.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/without-a-purpose-goal-and-vision-life-becomes-animalistic/)

[Dr. Ashok Anand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/)

> [“Most of the self-proclaimed Gurus in India have created a huge army of non-committal, lazy and egoistic people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/most-of-the-self-proclaimed-gurus-in-india-have-created-a-huge-army/)

[Dr. Ashok Anand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/)

> [“Life is a game, we are players &amp; He is the Judge.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/life-is-a-game-we-are-players-he-is-the-judge/)

[Dr. Ashok Anand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/)

> [“Life is a game, we are the players and He is the judge.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/life-is-a-game-we-are-the-players-and-he-is-the-judge/)

[Dr. Ashok Anand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/)

[Explore all 11 Dr. Ashok Anand quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/)

## More Civilized quotes

> [ That country \[Carthage\] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws;… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinking-into-the-state-of-barbarism/)

[Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/)

> [Be neither too early in the fashion, nor too long out of it, nor too precisely in it; what custom hath civilized is become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-quarles/be-neither-too-early-in-the-fashion-nor-too-long-out-of-it-nor-too/)

[Francis Quarles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-quarles/)

> [Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/wine-is-one-of-the-most-civilized-things-in-the-world-and-one-of-the/)

[Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/)

> [Civilized nations are ones that simply can't endure wrongs or injustice except at home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-anderson/civilized-nations-are-ones-that-simply-can-t-endure-wrongs-or/)

[Joseph Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-anderson/)

> [Our guiding principle was that design is neither an intellectual nor a material affair, but simply an integral part of the stuff of life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-gropius/our-guiding-principle-was-that-design-is-neither-an-intellectual-nor/)

[Walter Gropius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-gropius/)

> [War is not civilized.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/talib-kweli/war-is-not-civilized/)

[Talib Kweli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/talib-kweli/)

> [For it is an absurdity to call a country civilized in which a decent and industrious man, laboriously mastering a trade which is valuble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-an-absurdity-to-call-a-country-civilized-in-which-a-decent/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [No people is wholly civilized where a distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a purse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roosevelt/no-people-is-wholly-civilized-where-a-distinction-is-drawn-between/)

[Theodore Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roosevelt/)

> [Mine was, as it were, the connecting link between wild and cultivated fields; as some states are civilized, and others half-civilized, and others savage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/mine-was-as-it-were-the-connecting-link-between-wild-and-cultivated/)

[Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/)

> [The military mind is indeed a menace. Old-fashioned futurity that sees only men fighting and dying in smoke and fire; hears nothing more civilized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-o-casey/the-military-mind-is-indeed-a-menace-old-fashioned-futurity-that-sees/)

[Sean O'Casey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-o-casey/)

> [As long as there are prisons, police, armies, navies; we are not civilized. When the Earth joins together and uses the Earth intelligently, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacque-fresco/as-long-as-there-are-prisons-police-armies-navies-we-are-not/)

[Jacque Fresco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacque-fresco/)

> [We're all intrigued, in our civilized world that we live in, and curious about how we would get on, on an undiscovered island that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hiddleston/we-re-all-intrigued-in-our-civilized-world-that-we-live-in-and/)

[Tom Hiddleston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hiddleston/)

> [When passions and appetites are stronger than the intellect, men are savages; when the intellect governs the passions, when the passions are servants, men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/when-passions-and-appetites-are-stronger-than-the-intellect-men-are/)

[Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/)

> [The malady of civilized man is his knowledge of death. The good artist, like the wise man, addresses himself to life and invests with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-malady-of-civilized-man-is-his-knowledge-of-death-the-good-artist/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [Savage peoples are ruled by passion, civilized peoples by the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-von-clausewitz/savage-peoples-are-ruled-by-passion-civilized-peoples-by-the-mind/)

[Carl von Clausewitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-von-clausewitz/)

[Browse all 1,043 Civilized quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“The conventional wisdom says that societies seem more civilized than they actually are.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Dr. Ashok Anand"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/the-conventional-wisdom-says-that-societies-seem-more-civilized-than/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Civilized"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/the-conventional-wisdom-says-that-societies-seem-more-civilized-than/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/953/dr-ashok-anand-40131_conventional-wisdom_the-conventional-wisdom-says-that-societ_1666053.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/953/dr-ashok-anand-40131_conventional-wisdom_the-conventional-wisdom-says-that-societ_1666053.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/953/dr-ashok-anand-40131_conventional-wisdom_the-conventional-wisdom-says-that-societ_1666053.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“The conventional wisdom says that societies seem more civilized than they actually are.” — Dr. Ashok Anand",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "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": "Dr. Ashok Anand",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“The conventional wisdom says that societies...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/the-conventional-wisdom-says-that-societies-seem-more-civilized-than/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/the-conventional-wisdom-says-that-societies-seem-more-civilized-than/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
