--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We may think of ourselves as civilized…" description: "\"We may think of ourselves as civilized, but there is always a wildness within.\" — John Matthews" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b5/john-matthews-43892_civilized_we-may-think-of-ourselves-as-civilized-b_2745723.jpg" --- # We may think of ourselves as civilized, but there is… ![“We may think of ourselves as civilized, but there is always a wildness within.” quote by John Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b5/john-matthews-43892_civilized_we-may-think-of-ourselves-as-civilized-b_2745723.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b5/john-matthews-43892_civilized_we-may-think-of-ourselves-as-civilized-b_2745723.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b5/john-matthews-43892_civilized_we-may-think-of-ourselves-as-civilized-b_2745723.jpg) > “We may think of ourselves as civilized, but there is always a wildness within.” [John Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-matthews/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Even civilized societies retain an innate wildness that influences behavior. **In simple terms:** Civilized people still have a wild side. Key Takeaway Acknowledge and channel inner primal instincts. Themes human nature civilization wildness Mood philosophical analytical Type thoughtful provocative When to use this quote - urban life - creative expression - conflict resolution Key Concepts psychology anthropology Questions to Reflect On - How can wild instincts be expressed healthily? - What role does wildness play in innovation? A Different Perspective Suppressing wildness can cause tension. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Wildness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wildness/) ## Related quotes > [Why do people so love to wander? I think the civilized parts of the world will suffice for me in the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-cassatt/why-do-people-so-love-to-wander-i-think-the-civilized-parts-of-the/) [Mary Cassatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-cassatt/) > [We can build an economy that does not destroy its natural support systems, a global community where the basic needs of all the Earth's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lester-r-brown/we-can-build-an-economy-that-does-not-destroy-its-natural-support/) [Lester R. Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lester-r-brown/) > [Though we love to think that we are civilized & developed than that of people lived centuries ago. In reality, the world is still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abu-sufyan-ibn-harb/though-we-love-to-think-that-we-are-civilized-developed-than-that-of/) [Abu Sufyan ibn Harb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abu-sufyan-ibn-harb/) > [“So, I think that when we become civilized, great corporations will make provision for men who have given their lives to their service. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-g-ingersoll/so-i-think-that-when-we-become-civilized-great-corporations-will-make/) [Robert G. Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-g-ingersoll/) > [As I came home through the woods with my string of fish, trailing my pole, it being now quite dark, I caught a glimpse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/as-i-came-home-through-the-woods-with-my-string-of-fish-trailing-my/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“I no longer follow the voices of the sane. I follow the ill because they see farther, feel much more and change what the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-l-alder/i-no-longer-follow-the-voices-of-the-sane-i-follow-the-ill-because/) [Shannon L. Alder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-l-alder/) > [There are few places in England where you can get so much wildness and desolation of sea and sandhills, wood, green marsh and grey…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-henry-hudson/there-are-few-places-in-england-where-you-can-get-so-much-wildness/) [William Henry Hudson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-henry-hudson/) > [“The more I read, the more I felt connected across time to other lives and deeper sympathies. I felt less isolated. I wasn’t floating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/the-more-i-read-the-more-i-felt-connected-across-time-to-other-lives/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [“It was early evening twilight when we came around a corner… and there in the road was a red deer stag. He leapt up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-frost/it-was-early-evening-twilight-when-we-came-around-a-corner-and-there/) [Michelle Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-frost/) > [Every wild apple shrub excites our expectation thus, somewhat as every wild child. It is, perhaps, a prince in disguise. What a lesson to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/every-wild-apple-shrub-excites-our-expectation-thus-somewhat-as-every/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [Love is beauty, consciousness is trust. One of the deepest feminine pleasures is when a man stands full, present, and unreactive in the midst…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-deida/love-is-beauty-consciousness-is-trust-one-of-the-deepest-feminine/) [David Deida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-deida/) > [Fury is an entirely appropriate response to a system that sends young people to kill other young people in a war that never should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-klein/fury-is-an-entirely-appropriate-response-to-a-system-that-sends-young/) [Naomi Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-klein/) > [If I paint a wild horse, you might not see the horse... but surely you will see the wildness!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/if-i-paint-a-wild-horse-you-might-not-see-the-horse-but-surely-you/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [The saints differ from us in their exuberance, the excess of our human talents. Moderation is not their secret. It is in the wildness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phyllis-mcginley/the-saints-differ-from-us-in-their-exuberance-the-excess-of-our-human/) [Phyllis McGinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phyllis-mcginley/) > [“In the United States law, federally designated wilderness is famously defined as 'an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-marris/in-the-united-states-law-federally-designated-wilderness-is-famously/) [Emma Marris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-marris/) ## More by John Matthews > [I think it's the freedom, the undisciplined energy that's within us all - exactly what you feel when you enter the wild anywhere, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-matthews/i-think-it-s-the-freedom-the-undisciplined-energy-that-s-within-us/) [John Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-matthews/) > [The wildwood is everywhere. It's inside us. It's outside us. And, of course, if you happen to be near any of the more ancient…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-matthews/the-wildwood-is-everywhere-it-s-inside-us-it-s-outside-us-and-of/) [John Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-matthews/) > [The medieval ideas of the "wild wood" was like a cupboard into which they stuffed everything they were afraid of - Wodwose, Green Men,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-matthews/the-medieval-ideas-of-the-wild-wood-was-like-a-cupboard-into-which/) [John Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-matthews/) > [“Texas… When their section had first been put together fifteen months back, they’d each been”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-matthews/texas-when-their-section-had-first-been-put-together-fifteen-months/) [John Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-matthews/) > [“Strange and terrible were the adventures they undertook with a merry heart”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-matthews/strange-and-terrible-were-the-adventures-they-undertook-with-a-merry/) [John Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-matthews/) > [“The way to restore the Wasteland is to embrace it with compassion, to become identified with it in exactly the same way that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-matthews/the-way-to-restore-the-wasteland-is-to-embrace-it-with-compassion-to/) [John Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-matthews/) > [“Man is frail. Man is prone to fallacies, errors, vice, and greed, but good iron never fails. Combine hard iron with a good man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-matthews/man-is-frail-man-is-prone-to-fallacies-errors-vice-and-greed-but-good/) [John Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-matthews/) > [“There is a common language, a mode of consciousness, almost a secret sign which can be read and recognized by all who are similarly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-matthews/there-is-a-common-language-a-mode-of-consciousness-almost-a-secret/) [John Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-matthews/) [Explore all 9 John Matthews quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-matthews/) ## 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 > [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 ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We may think of ourselves as civilized, but there is always a wildness within.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Matthews" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-matthews/we-may-think-of-ourselves-as-civilized-but-there-is-always-a-wildness/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Civilized" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-matthews/we-may-think-of-ourselves-as-civilized-but-there-is-always-a-wildness/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b5/john-matthews-43892_civilized_we-may-think-of-ourselves-as-civilized-b_2745723.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b5/john-matthews-43892_civilized_we-may-think-of-ourselves-as-civilized-b_2745723.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b5/john-matthews-43892_civilized_we-may-think-of-ourselves-as-civilized-b_2745723.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We may think of ourselves as civilized, but there is always a wildness within.” — John Matthews", "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": "John Matthews", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-matthews/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We may think of ourselves as...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-matthews/we-may-think-of-ourselves-as-civilized-but-there-is-always-a-wildness/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-matthews/we-may-think-of-ourselves-as-civilized-but-there-is-always-a-wildness/#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 } } ] } ```