--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Civilization, her mother had told her…" description: "\"“Civilization, her mother had told her since she was small, was a series of agreements about what was good for everyone, enforced by law. And civilizat..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e46/maile-meloy-21701_civilization_civilization-her-mother-had-told-her-sin_409270.jpg" --- # Civilization, her mother had told her since she was small… ![“Civilization, her mother had told her since she was small, was a series of agreements about what was good for everyone, enforced by law. And civilization was only a thin veneer over the savagery and greed that were the human default.” quote by Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e46/maile-meloy-21701_civilization_civilization-her-mother-had-told-her-sin_409270.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e46/maile-meloy-21701_civilization_civilization-her-mother-had-told-her-sin_409270.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e46/maile-meloy-21701_civilization_civilization-her-mother-had-told-her-sin_409270.jpg) > ““Civilization, her mother had told her since she was small, was a series of agreements about what was good for everyone, enforced by law. And civilization was only a thin veneer over the savagery and greed that were the human default.”” [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Civilization masks inherent human savagery and greed, relying on laws as a fragile agreement. **In simple terms:** Society hides our base instincts with rules. Key Takeaway Question the fairness of societal rules. Themes society human nature law Mood critical thoughtful Type philosophical political When to use this quote - political debate - community building - ethical dilemmas - justice reform Key Concepts social contract moral philosophy Questions to Reflect On - Are laws truly for the common good? - What agreements could replace oppressive laws? A Different Perspective Idealistic view may overlook genuine cooperation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Mother](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mother/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) ## Related quotes > [“We wrap up our violent and mysterious world in a pretense of understanding. We paper over the voids of our comprehension with science and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-lawrence/we-wrap-up-our-violent-and-mysterious-world-in-a-pretense-of/) [Mark Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-lawrence/) > [There is certainly a longstanding idea within western culture that civilization is only a thin veneer. As soon as something happens, say a war…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/there-is-certainly-a-longstanding-idea-within-western-culture-that/) [Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/) > [The world no longer has a choice between force and law; if civilization is to survive, it must choose the rule of law.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-d-eisenhower/the-world-no-longer-has-a-choice-between-force-and-law-if/) [Dwight D. Eisenhower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-d-eisenhower/) > [Competition is the law of the jungle, but cooperation is the law of civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kropotkin/competition-is-the-law-of-the-jungle-but-cooperation-is-the-law-of/) [Peter Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kropotkin/) > [Allen's Law of Civilization: It is better for civilization to be going down the drain than to be coming up it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-dickson/allen-s-law-of-civilization-it-is-better-for-civilization-to-be-going/) [Paul Dickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-dickson/) > [“Civilization is but a thin veneer stretched across the passions of the human heart. And civilization doesn't just happen; we have to make it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-moyers/civilization-is-but-a-thin-veneer-stretched-across-the-passions-of/) [Bill Moyers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-moyers/) > [I was raised by a mother who told me I was great every day of my life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-sandler/i-was-raised-by-a-mother-who-told-me-i-was-great-every-day-of-my-life/) [Adam Sandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-sandler/) > [“Your life is a blank canvas,” her mother always told her. “It is what you make of it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-mooney/your-life-is-a-blank-canvas-her-mother-always-told-her-it-is-what-you/) [Bryan Mooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-mooney/) > [My mother told me to keep on singing, and that kept me working through the cotton fields. She said God has his hand on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-cash/my-mother-told-me-to-keep-on-singing-and-that-kept-me-working-through/) [Johnny Cash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-cash/) > [“Poetry speaks slowly. My mother told me that. We are usually too much in a hurry.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-meissner/poetry-speaks-slowly-my-mother-told-me-that-we-are-usually-too-much/) [Susan Meissner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-meissner/) > [From an early age my mother told me that there were so many of us that if I was to get anything in life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lee-chin/from-an-early-age-my-mother-told-me-that-there-were-so-many-of-us/) [Michael Lee-Chin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lee-chin/) > [“as his mother told Grandma Marie, there are no words for some”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/as-his-mother-told-grandma-marie-there-are-no-words-for-some/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [As a child, my mother told me lots of fairy stories, many her own invention. She, too, tended to reverse the norm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tanith-lee/as-a-child-my-mother-told-me-lots-of-fairy-stories-many-her-own/) [Tanith Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tanith-lee/) > [My mother told me stories all the time... And in all of those stories she told me who I was, who I was supposed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-gunn-allen/my-mother-told-me-stories-all-the-time-and-in-all-of-those-stories/) [Paula Gunn Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-gunn-allen/) > [“It’s a choreography of sorts: some birds, her mother once told her, dance before they mate.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-vyleta/it-s-a-choreography-of-sorts-some-birds-her-mother-once-told-her/) Dan Vyleta ## More by Maile Meloy > [“He held his hands tightly together and cursed his daughter for bringing the terrible world, with its humiliation and longing, back to his door.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/he-held-his-hands-tightly-together-and-cursed-his-daughter-for/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [When they started to drain a swamp where birds and fish had lived, for a new housing development down the road from his apartment,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/when-they-started-to-drain-a-swamp-where-birds-and-fish-had-lived-for/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [“It takes experience to know what is a catastrophe (Richard Hughes, 'A High Wind in Jamaica'),”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/it-takes-experience-to-know-what-is-a-catastrophe-richard-hughes-a/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [“Children were experiments, and his had failed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/children-were-experiments-and-his-had-failed/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [To be a kid is to be invisible and to listen, and to interpret things that aren't necessarily meant for you to hear--because how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/to-be-a-kid-is-to-be-invisible-and-to-listen-and-to-interpret-things/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [“Maybe we made her feel safe,' Aaron said. 'So she can be brave.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/maybe-we-made-her-feel-safe-aaron-said-so-she-can-be-brave/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [“All the while, Everett felt both the threat of disorder and the steady, thrumming promise of having everything he wanted, all at once.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/all-the-while-everett-felt-both-the-threat-of-disorder-and-the-steady/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [“We're creating little hedonists,' Frank used to say. 'Nothing will be as pleasurable as this for the rest of their lives. They'll search everywhere…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/we-re-creating-little-hedonists-frank-used-to-say-nothing-will-be-as/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [“Benjamin called it “estro-lock,” the way the two women could talk for hours and lose track of time. They ended up in conversation across…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/benjamin-called-it-estro-lock-the-way-the-two-women-could-talk-for/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [“Whenever we tamper with natural laws, there are consequences,” the count said. “The larger the disruption, the larger the consequence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/whenever-we-tamper-with-natural-laws-there-are-consequences-the-count/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [His heart felt dangerously full, for the first time in years. That dried-up battered organ, suddenly flush with love. It could kill him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/his-heart-felt-dangerously-full-for-the-first-time-in-years-that/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [“They had started one of those wish-fulfillment kids’ adventure books, where the boy hero has exactly the qualities he needs to triumph, at every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/they-had-started-one-of-those-wish-fulfillment-kids-adventure-books/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [I settled in with The Uninvited Guests thinking I knew what kind of Edwardian pleasures were in store: the fraught dinner party in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/i-settled-in-with-the-uninvited-guests-thinking-i-knew-what-kind-of/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [“There's a look little girls have who are adored by their fathers," Bea said. "It's that facial expression of being totally impervious to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/there-s-a-look-little-girls-have-who-are-adored-by-their-fathers-bea/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [At the simplicity of the gesture, he felt a pang: the raw nerve of his loneliness exposed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/at-the-simplicity-of-the-gesture-he-felt-a-pang-the-raw-nerve-of-his/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) [Explore all 27 Maile Meloy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) ## 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": "“Civilization, her mother had told her since she was small, was a series of agreements about what was good for everyone, enforced by law. And civilization was only a thin veneer over the savagery and greed that were the human default.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Maile Meloy" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/civilization-her-mother-had-told-her-since-she-was-small-was-a-series/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Civilization" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/civilization-her-mother-had-told-her-since-she-was-small-was-a-series/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e46/maile-meloy-21701_civilization_civilization-her-mother-had-told-her-sin_409270.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e46/maile-meloy-21701_civilization_civilization-her-mother-had-told-her-sin_409270.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e46/maile-meloy-21701_civilization_civilization-her-mother-had-told-her-sin_409270.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Civilization, her mother had told her since she was small, was a series of agreements about what was good…” — Maile Meloy", "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": "Maile Meloy", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Civilization, her mother had told her...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/civilization-her-mother-had-told-her-since-she-was-small-was-a-series/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/civilization-her-mother-had-told-her-since-she-was-small-was-a-series/#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 } } ] } ```