--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: She suspected that civilization had been…" description: "\"“She suspected that civilization had been invented to make more stories. And”\" — Gardner R. Dozois" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c5/gardner-r-dozois-52645_quote_she-suspected-that-civilization-had-been_1956208.jpg" --- # She suspected that civilization had been invented to make… ![“She suspected that civilization had been invented to make more stories. And” quote by Gardner R. Dozois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c5/gardner-r-dozois-52645_quote_she-suspected-that-civilization-had-been_1956208.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c5/gardner-r-dozois-52645_quote_she-suspected-that-civilization-had-been_1956208.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c5/gardner-r-dozois-52645_quote_she-suspected-that-civilization-had-been_1956208.jpg) > ““She suspected that civilization had been invented to make more stories. And”” [Gardner R. Dozois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gardner-r-dozois/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote suggests that civilization may exist primarily to generate narratives, implying culture is story‑driven. **In simple terms:** Civilization creates stories. Key Takeaway Recognize storytelling as a cultural driver. Themes culture storytelling civilization Mood thoughtful curious Type philosophical observational When to use this quote - education - media analysis - creative writing Key Concepts Narrative theory anthropology Questions to Reflect On - How does storytelling shape our view of progress? - Can we live without narrative? A Different Perspective Stories may oversimplify complex realities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) [Civilization Invented](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization-invented-3204379/) [Invented Make](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/invented-make-2128383/) [Make Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/make-stories-356573/) [Suspected Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suspected-civilization-3204380/) ## Related quotes > [“Employment was invented to make education seem useful.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/employment-was-invented-to-make-education-seem-useful/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [The novel, in its best form, I regard as one of the most powerful engines of civilization ever invented.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-herschel/the-novel-in-its-best-form-i-regard-as-one-of-the-most-powerful/) [John Herschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-herschel/) > [We're writers. What do we do? We tell stories. We make up stories. We create art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hector-tobar/we-re-writers-what-do-we-do-we-tell-stories-we-make-up-stories-we/) [Hector Tobar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hector-tobar/) > [I enjoy research as much as writing so I try to make my stories as fact-based as possible, which I think helps them seem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-buckland/i-enjoy-research-as-much-as-writing-so-i-try-to-make-my-stories-as/) [Raymond Buckland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-buckland/) > [The goal of storytelling should be to make stories as ubiquitous as music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-gladwell/the-goal-of-storytelling-should-be-to-make-stories-as-ubiquitous-as/) [Malcolm Gladwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-gladwell/) > [I make up stories that take place in real space with real people. If I could convert this into a technique for experimental novels,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-darnielle/i-make-up-stories-that-take-place-in-real-space-with-real-people-if-i/) [John Darnielle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-darnielle/) > [“Humans are storytellers. It is our nature to make up stories, to interpret everything we perceive. Without awareness, we give our personal power to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-ruiz/humans-are-storytellers-it-is-our-nature-to-make-up-stories-to/) [Miguel Ruiz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-ruiz/) > [So we make stories of our own, in fevered and envious imitation of our Maker, hoping that we'll tell, by chance, what God left…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-barker/so-we-make-stories-of-our-own-in-fevered-and-envious-imitation-of-our/) [Clive Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-barker/) > [We know people by their stories: their history, their habits, their secrets, their triumphs and failures. 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They just make up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-haywood-leal/if-folks-don-t-like-the-way-you-look-they-almost-never-take-the-time/) [Ann Haywood Leal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-haywood-leal/) > [People have their own opinions but sometimes with the media things get chopped up and cut around to make stories out of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-carter/people-have-their-own-opinions-but-sometimes-with-the-media-things/) [Aaron Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-carter/) > [We think that - as kids, you know - that kids make up stories and live in a sort of fictional place, but that,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-messud/we-think-that-as-kids-you-know-that-kids-make-up-stories-and-live-in/) [Claire Messud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-messud/) > [To be able to make up stories has been a great gift to me from my ancestors and from the storytellers who were so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-marmon-silko/to-be-able-to-make-up-stories-has-been-a-great-gift-to-me-from-my/) [Leslie Marmon Silko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-marmon-silko/) > [Make up your stories, but truth's so hard to say. Brain is numb and your tongue will surely dig you grave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megadeth/make-up-your-stories-but-truth-s-so-hard-to-say-brain-is-numb-and/) [Megadeth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/megadeth/) > [“Make a story for me, yes? About my Loh-rhett-ah when she was small like Blackbird.” She stared at him, clearly unable to believe he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-anderson/make-a-story-for-me-yes-about-my-loh-rhett-ah-when-she-was-small-like/) [Catherine Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-anderson/) ## More by Gardner R. Dozois > [“We primates reacted to threat with anger, so we got into fights without knowing why. Dawn”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gardner-r-dozois/we-primates-reacted-to-threat-with-anger-so-we-got-into-fights/) [Gardner R. Dozois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gardner-r-dozois/) > [“Naturals felt best in groups of a hundred or so, and even better if only a few dozen were involved. Hunting parties had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gardner-r-dozois/naturals-felt-best-in-groups-of-a-hundred-or-so-and-even-better-if/) [Gardner R. Dozois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gardner-r-dozois/) > [“Civilization had long maintained the appearance of such communal closeness, in small units people could manage. Societies had evolved that could stack such social…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gardner-r-dozois/civilization-had-long-maintained-the-appearance-of-such-communal/) [Gardner R. Dozois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gardner-r-dozois/) > [“I know what’s wrong with me; and knowing your own flaws is the beginning of wisdom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gardner-r-dozois/i-know-what-s-wrong-with-me-and-knowing-your-own-flaws-is-the/) [Gardner R. Dozois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gardner-r-dozois/) > [“All this was built on the firm foundation of primate bonding patterns. If the pattern broke down at the bottom, it gave a rabble.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gardner-r-dozois/all-this-was-built-on-the-firm-foundation-of-primate-bonding-patterns/) [Gardner R. Dozois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gardner-r-dozois/) > [“To disdain the moral pronouncements of hypocrites; to be true to my word; to always do what I promise, no more and no less.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gardner-r-dozois/to-disdain-the-moral-pronouncements-of-hypocrites-to-be-true-to-my/) [Gardner R. Dozois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gardner-r-dozois/) [Explore all 7 Gardner R. Dozois quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gardner-r-dozois/) ## More Civilization quotes > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Sentiment is the mightiest force in civilization; not sentimentality, but sentiment. Women will bring this into politics. Home, sweet home, is as powerful on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-ellen-foster/sentiment-is-the-mightiest-force-in-civilization-not-sentimentality/) [Judith Ellen Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-ellen-foster/) > [Violence is not necessary to destroy a civilization. Each civilization dies from indifference toward the unique values which created it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-gomez-davila/violence-is-not-necessary-to-destroy-a-civilization-each-civilization/) [Nicolas Gomez Davila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-gomez-davila/) > [“The voice in the head that never stops speaking becomes a civilization that is obsessed with form and therefore knows nothing of the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/the-voice-in-the-head-that-never-stops-speaking-becomes-a/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [We released 400,000 classified documents, the most extraordinary history of a war to ever have been released in our civilization. Those documents cover 109,000…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-assange/we-released-400-000-classified-documents-the-most-extraordinary/) [Julian Assange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-assange/) > [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/) > [Whenever we touch nature we get clean. People who have got dirty through too much civilization take a walk in the woods, or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/whenever-we-touch-nature-we-get-clean-people-who-have-got-dirty/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [The invention of gunpowder and the constant improvement of firearms are enough in themselves to show that the advance of civilization has done nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-von-clausewitz/the-invention-of-gunpowder-and-the-constant-improvement-of-firearms/) [Carl von Clausewitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-von-clausewitz/) > [Another success is the post-office, with its educating energy augmented by cheapness and guarded by a certain religious sentimentin mankind; so that the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/another-success-is-the-post-office-with-its-educating-energy/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“The mission is, not to replace old world mindlessness with new world mindlessness, but to put an end to all forms of brainless authoritarianism.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/the-mission-is-not-to-replace-old-world-mindlessness-with-new-world/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Our civilization, bequeathed to us by fierce adventurers, eaters of meat and hunters, is so full of hurry and combat, so busy about many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/our-civilization-bequeathed-to-us-by-fierce-adventurers-eaters-of/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) > [Coal lay in ledges under the ground since the Flood, until a laborer with pick and windlass brings it to the surface. We may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/coal-lay-in-ledges-under-the-ground-since-the-flood-until-a-laborer/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Once we allow ourselves to be disobedient to the test of an accountant's profit, we have begun to change our civilization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maynard-keynes/once-we-allow-ourselves-to-be-disobedient-to-the-test-of-an/) [John Maynard Keynes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maynard-keynes/) > [Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-josiah-brewer/our-laws-and-our-institutions-must-necessarily-be-based-upon-and/) [David Josiah Brewer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-josiah-brewer/) [Browse all 4,084 Civilization quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“She suspected that civilization had been invented to make more stories. And”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gardner R. 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