--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My idea of our civilization is that it is…" description: "\"My idea of our civilization is that it is a shoddy, poor thing and full of cruelties, vanities, arrogances, meannesses and hypocrisies.\" — Mark Twain" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/mark-twain-22_arrogance_my-idea-of-our-civilization-is-that-it-i_3040084.png" --- # My idea of our civilization is that it is a shoddy, poor… ![“My idea of our civilization is that it is a shoddy, poor thing and full of cruelties, vanities, arrogances, meannesses and hypocrisies.” quote by Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/mark-twain-22_arrogance_my-idea-of-our-civilization-is-that-it-i_3040084.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/mark-twain-22_arrogance_my-idea-of-our-civilization-is-that-it-i_3040084.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/mark-twain-22_arrogance_my-idea-of-our-civilization-is-that-it-i_3040084.png) > “My idea of our civilization is that it is a shoddy, poor thing and full of cruelties, vanities, arrogances, meannesses and hypocrisies.” [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## 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 criticizes humanity as fundamentally flawed, highlighting widespread moral failings and superficiality. **In simple terms:** Humanity is seen as corrupt and shallow. Key Takeaway Recognize and challenge societal flaws. Themes criticism human nature morality vanity hypocrisy Mood cynical reflective Type critical philosophical When to use this quote - political discourse - education reform - media analysis - personal reflection Key Concepts ethical decay social critique philosophical pessimism Questions to Reflect On - How do you see virtue in modern society? - What actions can reduce hypocrisy? A Different Perspective It may overlook positive aspects and capacity for change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Arrogance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arrogance/) [Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) [Cruelty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cruelty/) [Hypocrisy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hypocrisy/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Meanness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meanness/) [Vanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vanity/) ## Related quotes > [Perhaps civilization will never be safe until we care for something else more than we care for it. The hypothesis has certain facts to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/perhaps-civilization-will-never-be-safe-until-we-care-for-something/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Several years ago, when I was about to start a novel, I thought I might get some mileage out of the idea of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavia-e-butler/several-years-ago-when-i-was-about-to-start-a-novel-i-thought-i-might/) [Octavia E. Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-e-butler/) > [The whole idea of civilization as an understandable narrative is a bit nuts. It's the most problematic of delusions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carey-mercer/the-whole-idea-of-civilization-as-an-understandable-narrative-is-a/) [Carey Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carey-mercer/) > [I bring you this stately matron named Christendom, returning bedraggled, besmirched, and dishonored from pirate raids in Kiao-Chow, Manchuria, South Africa, and the Phillipines,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-bring-you-this-stately-matron-named-christendom-returning/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [We're only passers-by, and all you can do is love what you have in your life. A person has to fight the meanness that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hamilton/we-re-only-passers-by-and-all-you-can-do-is-love-what-you-have-in/) [Jane Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hamilton/) > [If we weren't born with anti-social passions - narcissism, envy, lust, meanness, greed, hunger for power, just to name the more obvious - why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-prager/if-we-weren-t-born-with-anti-social-passions-narcissism-envy-lust/) [Dennis Prager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-prager/) > [Meanness is more in half-doing than in omitting acts of generosity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/meanness-is-more-in-half-doing-than-in-omitting-acts-of-generosity/) [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) > [“Boyishness—by which I mean animal life in its fullest measure, good nature and honest impulses, hatred of injustice and meanness, and thoughtlessness enough to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hughes/boyishness-by-which-i-mean-animal-life-in-its-fullest-measure-good/) [Thomas Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hughes/) > [There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/there-is-no-act-of-treachery-or-meanness-of-which-a-political-party/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [Being popular is the most important thing in the world!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/homer/being-popular-is-the-most-important-thing-in-the-world/) [Homer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/homer/) > [“Oh, you mysterious girls, when you are fifty-two we shall find you out; you must come into the open then. If the mouth has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/oh-you-mysterious-girls-when-you-are-fifty-two-we-shall-find-you-out/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Love can excuse anything except meanness; but meanness kills love, cripples even natural affection; without esteem true love cannot exist.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/love-can-excuse-anything-except-meanness-but-meanness-kills-love/) [Charlotte Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [I read the rumors, and I know there is a cottage industry of meanness out there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-lauer/i-read-the-rumors-and-i-know-there-is-a-cottage-industry-of-meanness/) [Matt Lauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-lauer/) > [Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office-seeking. Men of good character and impulses are betrayed by it into all sorts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutherford-b-hayes/nothing-brings-out-the-lower-traits-of-human-nature-like-office/) [Rutherford B. Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutherford-b-hayes/) > [Don’t you just hate nights like that, when you think over every mistake you’ve made, every hurt you’ve received, every bit of meanness you’ve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlaine-harris/don-t-you-just-hate-nights-like-that-when-you-think-over-every/) [Charlaine Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlaine-harris/) ## More by Mark Twain > [Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/sing-like-no-one-s-listening-love-like-you-ve-never-been-hurt-dance/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [If you had made the acquiring of ignorance the study of your life, you could not have graduated with higher honor than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-you-had-made-the-acquiring-of-ignorance-the-study-of-your-life-you/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-creator-sat-upon-the-throne-thinking-behind-him-stretched-the/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-s-easy-to-quit-smoking-i-ve-done-it-hundreds-of-times/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“It is never wrong to do the right thing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-is-never-wrong-to-do-the-right-thing/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [A man accustomed to American food and American domestic cookery would not starve to death suddenly in Europe, but I think he would gradually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/a-man-accustomed-to-american-food-and-american-domestic-cookery-would/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [There is nothing training can't cannot do. Nothing is above its reach.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/there-is-nothing-training-can-t-cannot-do-nothing-is-above-its-reach/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [I never write Metropolis for seven cents because I can get the same price for city. I never write policeman because I can get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-never-write-metropolis-for-seven-cents-because-i-can-get-the-same/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [The higher animals get their teeth without pain or inconvenience. Man gets his through months and months of cruel torture; he will never get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-higher-animals-get-their-teeth-without-pain-or-inconvenience-man/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“As far as I can see, Italy, for fifteen hundred years, has turned all her energies, all her finances, and all her industry to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/as-far-as-i-can-see-italy-for-fifteen-hundred-years-has-turned-all/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Begin with the determination to succeed and the work is half done already.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/begin-with-the-determination-to-succeed-and-the-work-is-half-done/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Many public-school children seem to know only two dates—1492 and 4th of July; and as a rule they don't know what happened on either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/many-public-school-children-seem-to-know-only-two-dates-1492-and-4th/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [If we could imagine such a man, that is a man who could invent the fly and send him out on his mission and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-we-could-imagine-such-a-man-that-is-a-man-who-could-invent-the-fly/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/you-perceive-now-that-these-things-are-all-impossible-except-in-a/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Lord save us all from a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/lord-save-us-all-from-a-hope-tree-that-has-lost-the-faculty-of/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) [Explore all 3,277 Mark Twain quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## More Arrogance quotes > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [wishes for sons by Lucille Clifton i wish them cramps. i wish them a strange town and the last tampon. I wish them no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucille-clifton/wishes-for-sons-by-lucille-clifton-i-wish-them-cramps-i-wish-them-a/) [Lucille Clifton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucille-clifton/) > [The structure of the Swiss ruling class is rock-hard, and unchanged since the time of Napoleon. They sit on their mountains and lecture the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-ziegler/the-structure-of-the-swiss-ruling-class-is-rock-hard-and-unchanged/) [Jean Ziegler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-ziegler/) > [What you see of me on TV and all of that, that is me - that's truly how I feel. I'm just multiplying it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baron-corbin/what-you-see-of-me-on-tv-and-all-of-that-that-is-me-that-s-truly-how/) [Baron Corbin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baron-corbin/) > [I don't join the New Atheists. So, for example, I wouldn't have the arrogance to lecture some mother who hopes to see her dying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/i-don-t-join-the-new-atheists-so-for-example-i-wouldn-t-have-the/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Never mistake someones quietness for their arrogance as you can surely miss out on an awsome personality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/never-mistake-someones-quietness-for-their-arrogance-as-you-can/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Most of us think of pride as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance, or haughtiness. All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-taft-benson/most-of-us-think-of-pride-as-self-centeredness-conceit-boastfulness/) [Ezra Taft Benson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-taft-benson/) > [“I was consumed by a selfishness and arrogance that I didn't dare let go of until I found a new persona to hide behind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-koomson/i-was-consumed-by-a-selfishness-and-arrogance-that-i-didn-t-dare-let/) [Dorothy Koomson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-koomson/) > [Arrogance is the outgrowth of prosperity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plautus/arrogance-is-the-outgrowth-of-prosperity/) [Plautus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plautus/) > [Timing and arrogance are decisive factors in the successful use of talent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/timing-and-arrogance-are-decisive-factors-in-the-successful-use-of/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [Some say work smarter, not harder, but the wisest are both. Whether you're more of a hard worker or a smart worker, if you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colby-tatem/some-say-work-smarter-not-harder-but-the-wisest-are-both-whether-you/) [Colby Tatem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colby-tatem/) > [Closed some doors, not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because they no longer lead somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frenz-jeffrey/closed-some-doors-not-because-of-pride-incapacity-or-arrogance-but/) [Frenz Jeffrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frenz-jeffrey/) > [My success isn't a result of arrogance - it's a result of belief.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conor-mcgregor/my-success-isn-t-a-result-of-arrogance-it-s-a-result-of-belief/) [Conor McGregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conor-mcgregor/) > [“...a great man who is vicious will only be a great doer of evil, and a rich man who is not liberal will be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-cervantes/a-great-man-who-is-vicious-will-only-be-a-great-doer-of-evil-and-a/) Miguel Cervantes > [An increasing number of people are growing uncomfortable with the gulf between the world's rich and the poor. Ostentatiously splashing your money around simply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kalle-lasn/an-increasing-number-of-people-are-growing-uncomfortable-with-the/) [Kalle Lasn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kalle-lasn/) [Browse all 1,418 Arrogance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arrogance/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "My idea of our civilization is that it is a shoddy, poor thing and full of cruelties, vanities, arrogances, meannesses and hypocrisies.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Twain" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/my-idea-of-our-civilization-is-that-it-is-a-shoddy-poor-thing-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Arrogance" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/my-idea-of-our-civilization-is-that-it-is-a-shoddy-poor-thing-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/mark-twain-22_arrogance_my-idea-of-our-civilization-is-that-it-i_3040084.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/mark-twain-22_arrogance_my-idea-of-our-civilization-is-that-it-i_3040084.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/mark-twain-22_arrogance_my-idea-of-our-civilization-is-that-it-i_3040084.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“My idea of our civilization is that it is a shoddy, poor thing and full of cruelties, vanities, arrogances…” — Mark Twain", "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": "Mark Twain", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "My idea of our civilization is...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/my-idea-of-our-civilization-is-that-it-is-a-shoddy-poor-thing-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/my-idea-of-our-civilization-is-that-it-is-a-shoddy-poor-thing-and/#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 } } ] } ```