Quote by Malcolm Watts

“The veneer of civilization is extremely thin.”

— Charles Cook M.D

“the veneer of civilization is exceedingly thin”

— Karin Tansek

“Perceptive observers saw civilization thinned to a mere veneer, with barbarism surging just beneath the surface, straining for release.”

— Bruce Brander

“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…

— Bill Moyers

“Of course there is no veneer, the process is one of growth, and primitiveness and civilization are degrees of the same thing. If civilization…

— Ursula K. Le Guin

“Civilization... is another word for respect for life. One can't have too much respect for a loveliness that's brittle as spun glass.”

— Elizabeth Goudge

“A civilization for ever within easy reach of a blade had little to boast about.”

— Steven Erikson

“Perhaps, over the years, like most things, the walls had aged. Thinned. Worn thin by the day to day endlessness of its own existence.”

— Chesya Burke

“Civilization is perhaps nothing but a process of finding out what you cannot have.”

— Sherwood Anderson

“Thin veneers can cover a mountain of problems around here when nobody's looking at the details.”

— Carol Plum-Ucci

“I wouldn't mind a bit seeing all civilization crumble like a mason's scaffolding before the building was finished--”

— Gustave Flaubert

“Or maybe the ugliness is in us. That's just the way we are. Underneath the pretense of civilization.”

— Bethany Griffin