--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Mankind which began in a cave and behind…" description: "\"Mankind which began in a cave and behind a windbreak will end in the disease-soaked ruins of a slum.\" — H. G. Wells" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/32a/h-g-wells-1122_behinds_mankind-which-began-in-a-cave-and-behind_2207719.png" --- # Mankind which began in a cave and behind a windbreak will… ![“Mankind which began in a cave and behind a windbreak will end in the disease-soaked ruins of a slum.” quote by H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/32a/h-g-wells-1122_behinds_mankind-which-began-in-a-cave-and-behind_2207719.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/32a/h-g-wells-1122_behinds_mankind-which-began-in-a-cave-and-behind_2207719.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/32a/h-g-wells-1122_behinds_mankind-which-began-in-a-cave-and-behind_2207719.png) > “Mankind which began in a cave and behind a windbreak will end in the disease-soaked ruins of a slum.” [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human civilization may rise from humble beginnings but can end in squalor if unchecked. **In simple terms:** Civilization can decay into slums. Key Takeaway Beware societal decay. Themes progress decline urbanization Mood cautionary reflective Type philosophical warning When to use this quote - urban planning - public health - social policy - housing reforms Key Concepts sociology future studies environmental decay Questions to Reflect On - What signs of decay are visible today? - How can we prevent urban ruin? A Different Perspective Neglecting inequality can accelerate decline. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Began Cave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/began-cave-4876168/) [Behinds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/behinds/) [Caves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caves/) [Disease](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disease/) [Ends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ends/) [Mankind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mankind/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) [Ruins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruins/) [Ruins Slum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruins-slum-4876167/) [Slum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slum/) [Slums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slums/) [Soaked Ruins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soaked-ruins-4876169/) ## Related quotes > [When I was 16, I made some little 35mm documentaries about the poor in London. I went round Notting Hill, which was a real…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-suchet/when-i-was-16-i-made-some-little-35mm-documentaries-about-the-poor-in/) [David Suchet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-suchet/) > [One chronicler writes of an area of India during the end of the 20th century: Almost no-one in this slum was poor by Indian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-boo/one-chronicler-writes-of-an-area-of-india-during-the-end-of-the-20th/) [Katherine Boo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-boo/) > [If you've seen one city slum, you've seen them all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spiro-t-agnew/if-you-ve-seen-one-city-slum-you-ve-seen-them-all/) [Spiro T. Agnew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spiro-t-agnew/) > [You can look at a slum or a peasant village, but it is only by entering into the world - by living in it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penny-lernoux/you-can-look-at-a-slum-or-a-peasant-village-but-it-is-only-by/) [Penny Lernoux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penny-lernoux/) > [Several generations of slum environment will produce a slum heredity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albion-fellows-bacon/several-generations-of-slum-environment-will-produce-a-slum-heredity/) [Albion Fellows Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albion-fellows-bacon/) > [I haven't got a heart: only the former site of one, with a monument there to say that it has been removed and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/i-haven-t-got-a-heart-only-the-former-site-of-one-with-a-monument/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [The first Parikrma school started in a slum where there were 70,000 people living below the poverty line. Our first school was on a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shukla-bose/the-first-parikrma-school-started-in-a-slum-where-there-were-70-000/) [Shukla Bose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shukla-bose/) > [The daily lesson of slum life, visualised, reiterated, of low standards, vile living, obscenity, profanity, impurity, is bound tobe dwarfing and debasing to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albion-fellows-bacon/the-daily-lesson-of-slum-life-visualised-reiterated-of-low-standards/) [Albion Fellows Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albion-fellows-bacon/) > [Whereas the slums in Hamburg are the slums of its sailors, Berlin is a big slum.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathy-acker/whereas-the-slums-in-hamburg-are-the-slums-of-its-sailors-berlin-is-a/) [Kathy Acker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathy-acker/) > [You can be slum-born and slum-bred and still achieve something worth while; but it is a stupid inverted snobbishness to be proud of it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katharine-fullerton-gerould/you-can-be-slum-born-and-slum-bred-and-still-achieve-something-worth/) [Katharine Fullerton Gerould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katharine-fullerton-gerould/) > [Slumdog' was my first movie, and I had never been to India before - I was just a teenager in the U.K. with my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dev-patel/slumdog-was-my-first-movie-and-i-had-never-been-to-india-before-i-was/) [Dev Patel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dev-patel/) > [One of the saddest sights of the slums is to see the thrifty wife of the working man, with her rosy brood of children,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albion-fellows-bacon/one-of-the-saddest-sights-of-the-slums-is-to-see-the-thrifty-wife-of/) [Albion Fellows Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albion-fellows-bacon/) > [Hate builds up from the childhood when your world was a slum, but you haven't got the right to blow it to kingdom come.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-davies/hate-builds-up-from-the-childhood-when-your-world-was-a-slum-but-you/) [Ray Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-davies/) > [Misery is when you heard on the radio that the neighborhood you live in is a slum but you always thought it was home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/langston-hughes/misery-is-when-you-heard-on-the-radio-that-the-neighborhood-you-live/) [Langston Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/langston-hughes/) > [The slum is the measure of civilization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-slum-is-the-measure-of-civilization/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by H. G. Wells > [... life falls into place only with God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/life-falls-into-place-only-with-god/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [Fools make researches and wise men exploit them - that is our earthly way of dealing with the question, and we thank Heaven for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/fools-make-researches-and-wise-men-exploit-them-that-is-our-earthly/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [The true sweetness of chess, if it ever can be sweet, is to see a victory snatched, by some happy impertinence, out of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/the-true-sweetness-of-chess-if-it-ever-can-be-sweet-is-to-see-a/) [H. G. 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Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [The Jews looked for a special savior, a messiah, who was to redeem mankind by the agreeable process of restoring the fabulous glories of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/the-jews-looked-for-a-special-savior-a-messiah-who-was-to-redeem/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [“And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers—shrivelled now, and brown and flat and brittle—to witness that even when mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/and-i-have-by-me-for-my-comfort-two-strange-white-flowers-shrivelled/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [ \[A novel by Henry James\] is like a church lit but without a congregation to distract you, with every light and line focused on… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/a-novel-by-henry-james-is-like-a-church-lit-but-without-a/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [In England we have come to rely upon a comfortable time-lag of fifty years or a century intervening between the perception that something ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/in-england-we-have-come-to-rely-upon-a-comfortable-time-lag-of-fifty/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [We must end war before war ends us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/we-must-end-war-before-war-ends-us/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [What good is religion if it collapses under calamity?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/what-good-is-religion-if-it-collapses-under-calamity/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) [Explore all 280 H. G. Wells quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) ## More Behinds quotes > [Resist discouragement by speaking His Word over your future. Keep standing. 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If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/elections-belong-to-the-people-it-s-their-decision-if-they-decide-to/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [Time is painted with a lock before, and bald behind, signifying thereby that we must take time by the forelock; for, when it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/time-is-painted-with-a-lock-before-and-bald-behind-signifying-thereby/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) > [God hides Himself behind causes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-rollin/god-hides-himself-behind-causes/) [Charles Rollin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-rollin/) > [Home is behind, the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread Through shadows to the edge of night, Until the stars are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/home-is-behind-the-world-ahead-and-there-are-many-paths-to-tread/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Behind every word flows energy. If you use your words to gossip or babble about what you are going to do before you do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonia-choquette/behind-every-word-flows-energy-if-you-use-your-words-to-gossip-or/) [Sonia Choquette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonia-choquette/) > [With the realization of God comes all power. If the little wave knew that behind it is the great ocean, it could say, "I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paramahansa-yogananda/with-the-realization-of-god-comes-all-power-if-the-little-wave-knew/) [Paramahansa Yogananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paramahansa-yogananda/) > [Conservatism is not about leaving people behind. 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