--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A good civilization gives the greatest…" description: "\"A good civilization gives the greatest possible scope to the common passions and makes them intelligible among the great number of people.\" — Meridel L..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c52/meridel-le-sueur-21945_civilization_a-good-civilization-gives-the-greatest-p_1439449.jpg" --- # A good civilization gives the greatest possible scope to… ![“A good civilization gives the greatest possible scope to the common passions and makes them intelligible among the great number of people.” quote by Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c52/meridel-le-sueur-21945_civilization_a-good-civilization-gives-the-greatest-p_1439449.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c52/meridel-le-sueur-21945_civilization_a-good-civilization-gives-the-greatest-p_1439449.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c52/meridel-le-sueur-21945_civilization_a-good-civilization-gives-the-greatest-p_1439449.jpg) > “A good civilization gives the greatest possible scope to the common passions and makes them intelligible among the great number of people.” [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A thriving society expands and clarifies shared human desires so many can understand and participate. **In simple terms:** Society should broaden and explain shared passions for all. Key Takeaway Promote inclusive understanding of common desires. Themes society inclusion culture Mood thoughtful optimistic Type sociopolitical reflective When to use this quote - public policy - education curricula - community events - media messaging Key Concepts human nature shared values communication Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance common passions with minority voices? - What mechanisms make passions intelligible? A Different Perspective May overlook individual differences and dissenting views. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Scope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scope/) ## Related quotes > [“Men need play & danger. Civilization gives them work and safety.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/men-need-play-danger-civilization-gives-them-work-and-safety/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“...the delicate arrangements and systems that made life on the outside so easy; the massive industries balanced on knife-edge adjustments; the handful of men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-mulvihill/the-delicate-arrangements-and-systems-that-made-life-on-the-outside/) William Mulvihill > [I truly believe the way to build a good civilization is to do it on Judaeo-Christian values because whenever you do it on Judaeo-Christian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beneil-dariush/i-truly-believe-the-way-to-build-a-good-civilization-is-to-do-it-on/) [Beneil Dariush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beneil-dariush/) > [For nature is good, an man is 'by nature' good; it is civilization which ruins him](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jostein-gaarder/for-nature-is-good-an-man-is-by-nature-good-it-is-civilization-which/) [Jostein Gaarder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jostein-gaarder/) > [“Also, a large swath of our intellectual culture is loath to admit that there could be anything good about civilization, modernity, and Western society.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/also-a-large-swath-of-our-intellectual-culture-is-loath-to-admit-that/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [It's going to be a combination Scopes trial, revolution in the streets, Woodstock Festival and People's Park, all rolled into one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abbie-hoffman/it-s-going-to-be-a-combination-scopes-trial-revolution-in-the-streets/) [Abbie Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abbie-hoffman/) > [I'm trying to broaden the scope of positive psychology well beyond the smiley face. Happiness is just one-fifth of what human beings choose to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-seligman/i-m-trying-to-broaden-the-scope-of-positive-psychology-well-beyond/) [Martin Seligman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-seligman/) > [I tend to lean more towards the Westerns of the 40s and 50s as opposed to the 60s and 70s. They get a little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-macfarlane/i-tend-to-lean-more-towards-the-westerns-of-the-40s-and-50s-as/) [Seth MacFarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-macfarlane/) > ["Fair, kind, and true" is all my argument, "Fair, kind, and true" varying to other words; And in this change is my invention spent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/fair-kind-and-true-is-all-my-argument-fair-kind-and-true-varying-to/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [I think the reality is that copyright law has for a very long time been a tiny little part of American jurisprudence, far removed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-lessig/i-think-the-reality-is-that-copyright-law-has-for-a-very-long-time/) [Lawrence Lessig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-lessig/) > [As evangelical Christians we have tended to relegate art to the very fringe of life. The rest of human life we feel is more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-schaeffer/as-evangelical-christians-we-have-tended-to-relegate-art-to-the-very/) [Francis Schaeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-schaeffer/) > [What business needs now is exactly what women are able to provide, and at the very time when women are surging into the work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-helgesen/what-business-needs-now-is-exactly-what-women-are-able-to-provide-and/) [Sally Helgesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-helgesen/) > [Whatever we may say against collections, which present authors in a disjointed form, they nevertheless bring about many excellent results. We are not always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/whatever-we-may-say-against-collections-which-present-authors-in-a/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [I think there's a lot of scope in broadening the way videogames approach depictions of masculinity, which is still extremely narrow in scope. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-druckmann/i-think-there-s-a-lot-of-scope-in-broadening-the-way-videogames/) Neil Druckmann > [Lutherans, whose arguments and mistakes will not be difficult to contest or discover, do not want to attribute any value to works, and they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-servetus/lutherans-whose-arguments-and-mistakes-will-not-be-difficult-to/) [Michael Servetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-servetus/) ## More by Meridel Le Sueur > [I am luminous with age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/i-am-luminous-with-age/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [Each generation must go further than the last or what's the use in it?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/each-generation-must-go-further-than-the-last-or-what-s-the-use-in-it/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [It was the bumble bee and the butterfly who survived, not the dinosaur.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/it-was-the-bumble-bee-and-the-butterfly-who-survived-not-the-dinosaur/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [No art can develop until it penetrates deeply into the life of the people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/no-art-can-develop-until-it-penetrates-deeply-into-the-life-of-the/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [Human history is work history. The heroes of the people are work heroes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/human-history-is-work-history-the-heroes-of-the-people-are-work-heroes/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [Hard times ain't quit and we ain't quit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/hard-times-ain-t-quit-and-we-ain-t-quit/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [“The people are a story that never ends, A river that winds and falls and gleams erect in many dawns; Lost in deep gulleys,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/the-people-are-a-story-that-never-ends-a-river-that-winds-and-falls/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [An abyss seems to have opened between the intellectual cosmopolites of culture and the people, hungry for word and meaning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/an-abyss-seems-to-have-opened-between-the-intellectual-cosmopolites/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [Linear thinking is patriarchal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/linear-thinking-is-patriarchal/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [Literature must spring from the deep and submerged humus of our life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/literature-must-spring-from-the-deep-and-submerged-humus-of-our-life/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [The body repeats the landscape. They are the source of each other and create each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/the-body-repeats-the-landscape-they-are-the-source-of-each-other-and/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [Suddenly many movements are going on within me, many things are happening, there is an almost unbearable sense of sprouting, of bursting encasements, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/suddenly-many-movements-are-going-on-within-me-many-things-are/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [“I hope you will be a warrior and fierce for change so all can live.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/i-hope-you-will-be-a-warrior-and-fierce-for-change-so-all-can-live/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [What happens in a strike happens not to one person alone… It is a crisis with meaning and potency for all and prophetic of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/what-happens-in-a-strike-happens-not-to-one-person-alone-it-is-a/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) > [They never die, who have the future in them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/they-never-die-who-have-the-future-in-them/) [Meridel Le Sueur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) [Explore all 28 Meridel Le Sueur quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/) ## 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": "A good civilization gives the greatest possible scope to the common passions and makes them intelligible among the great number of people.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Meridel Le Sueur" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/a-good-civilization-gives-the-greatest-possible-scope-to-the-common/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Civilization" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/a-good-civilization-gives-the-greatest-possible-scope-to-the-common/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c52/meridel-le-sueur-21945_civilization_a-good-civilization-gives-the-greatest-p_1439449.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c52/meridel-le-sueur-21945_civilization_a-good-civilization-gives-the-greatest-p_1439449.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c52/meridel-le-sueur-21945_civilization_a-good-civilization-gives-the-greatest-p_1439449.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A good civilization gives the greatest possible scope to the common passions and makes them intelligible…” — Meridel Le Sueur", "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": "Meridel Le Sueur", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meridel-le-sueur/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A good civilization gives the greatest...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/a-good-civilization-gives-the-greatest-possible-scope-to-the-common/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meridel-le-sueur/a-good-civilization-gives-the-greatest-possible-scope-to-the-common/#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 } } ] } ```