--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The flush toilet, more than any single…" description: "\"“The flush toilet, more than any single invention, has 'civilized' us in a way that religion and law could never accomplish.”\" — Thomas Lynch" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a62/thomas-lynch-18339_civilized_the-flush-toilet-more-than-any-single-in_1835236.png" --- # The flush toilet, more than any single invention, has… ![“The flush toilet, more than any single invention, has 'civilized' us in a way that religion and law could never accomplish.” quote by Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a62/thomas-lynch-18339_civilized_the-flush-toilet-more-than-any-single-in_1835236.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a62/thomas-lynch-18339_civilized_the-flush-toilet-more-than-any-single-in_1835236.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a62/thomas-lynch-18339_civilized_the-flush-toilet-more-than-any-single-in_1835236.png) > ““The flush toilet, more than any single invention, has 'civilized' us in a way that religion and law could never accomplish.”” [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The flush toilet revolutionized hygiene and public health far beyond what religion or law could achieve. **In simple terms:** The toilet greatly improved civilization more than religion or law. Key Takeaway Recognize the impact of everyday inventions. Themes technology public health civilization innovation hygiene Mood reflective appreciative Type historical technological When to use this quote - home construction - urban planning - public policy - education Key Concepts sanitation social progress engineering Questions to Reflect On - How does sanitation shape society? - What other inventions have similar impact? A Different Perspective May downplay cultural influences on hygiene. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized/) [Civilized Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-way-1845188/) [Flush Toilet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flush-toilet-873969/) [Invention Civilized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/invention-civilized-2305756/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Toilet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/toilet/) ## Related quotes > [That heart attack moment when you flush someone else's toilet and the water starts rising...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/that-heart-attack-moment-when-you-flush-someone-else-s-toilet-and-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“My kingdom for a flush toilet.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-tawn-bergren/my-kingdom-for-a-flush-toilet/) [Lisa Tawn Bergren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-tawn-bergren/) > [ \[The flush toilet is\] a wonderful waste disposal device. But I think that it's so good it doesn't smell, we can put it in… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suman-rai/the-flush-toilet-is-a-wonderful-waste-disposal-device-but-i-think/) [Suman Rai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suman-rai/) > [My mom told me if she ever got mad at me she'd flush 'me' down the toilet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexa-vega/my-mom-told-me-if-she-ever-got-mad-at-me-she-d-flush-me-down-the/) [Alexa Vega](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexa-vega/) > [This World is a piece of Shit... Just waiting for God to Flush the Toilet but everytime he tries the Devil keeps it clogged...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-dash/this-world-is-a-piece-of-shit-just-waiting-for-god-to-flush-the/) [C-DASH](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-dash/) > [Typically, when you flush the toilet, you shouldn't hear it gurgling in the shower.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-baeumler/typically-when-you-flush-the-toilet-you-shouldn-t-hear-it-gurgling-in/) [Bryan Baeumler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-baeumler/) > [If shit happens, flush the toilet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author-name/if-shit-happens-flush-the-toilet/) [Author Name](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/author-name/) > [Ghetto Santa has to ring his doorbell to flush the toilet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josh-q/ghetto-santa-has-to-ring-his-doorbell-to-flush-the-toilet/) [Josh Q](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josh-q/) > [I don't flush the toilet after I poop because I'm really into marketing my brand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikhil-saluja/i-don-t-flush-the-toilet-after-i-poop-because-i-m-really-into/) [Nikhil Saluja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikhil-saluja/) > [Business is always looking to avoid the toughest norms. But some do it in a civilized way, while others push it using uncivilized, brazen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dmitry-medvedev/business-is-always-looking-to-avoid-the-toughest-norms-but-some-do-it/) [Dmitry Medvedev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dmitry-medvedev/) > [Democracy is the only civilized way to govern a country.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ricardo-salinas-pliego/democracy-is-the-only-civilized-way-to-govern-a-country/) [Ricardo Salinas Pliego](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ricardo-salinas-pliego/) > [“Well, we are making war for civilization, are we not? Very well, we are. Therefore, we eat in a civilized way.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-post/well-we-are-making-war-for-civilization-are-we-not-very-well-we-are/) [Emily Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-post/) > [“Do you have any idea how many times I’ve wanted to turn you into a turd and flush you down the toilet?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/quinn-loftis/do-you-have-any-idea-how-many-times-i-ve-wanted-to-turn-you-into-a/) [Quinn Loftis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/quinn-loftis/) > [“I haven’t got a clue why his bones disintegrated, but look at the bright side,” laughed Adam. “We won’t have to dispose of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-nowaz/i-haven-t-got-a-clue-why-his-bones-disintegrated-but-look-at-the/) [Max Nowaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-nowaz/) > [If all you do is talk crap, I'll just flush the toilet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/behdad-sami/if-all-you-do-is-talk-crap-i-ll-just-flush-the-toilet/) [Behdad Sami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/behdad-sami/) ## More by Thomas Lynch > [“I had this theory. It was based loosely on the unremarkable observation that the old are always looking back with longing while the young,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/i-had-this-theory-it-was-based-loosely-on-the-unremarkable/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [“The advance of our technology is coincidental with the loss of our appetite for ethical questions that ought to attend the implications of these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/the-advance-of-our-technology-is-coincidental-with-the-loss-of-our/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [Whatever’s there to feel, feel it – the riddance, the relief, the fright and freedom, the fear of forgetting, the dull ache of your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/whatever-s-there-to-feel-feel-it-the-riddance-the-relief-the-fright/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [“The bodies of the newly dead are not debris nor remnant, nor are they entirely icon or essence. They are, rather, changelings, incubates, hatchlings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/the-bodies-of-the-newly-dead-are-not-debris-nor-remnant-nor-are-they/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [“The living have to live with it. You don’t. Theirs is the grief or the gladness of your death, theirs is the loss or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/the-living-have-to-live-with-it-you-don-t-theirs-is-the-grief-or-the/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [“When we bury the old, we bury the known past, the past we imagine sometimes better than it was, but the past all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/when-we-bury-the-old-we-bury-the-known-past-the-past-we-imagine/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [Whatever's there to feel, feel it—the riddance, the relief, the fright and freedom, the fear of forgetting, the dull ache of your own mortality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/whatever-s-there-to-feel-feel-it-the-riddance-the-relief-the-fright-2/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [... by doing you shall know What it is you have to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/by-doing-you-shall-know-what-it-is-you-have-to-do/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [Usually a poem takes shape accoustically - a line or a pair of lines will repeat itself in my ear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/usually-a-poem-takes-shape-accoustically-a-line-or-a-pair-of-lines/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [If I were assigned poems I suppose I'd write more of them but it is entirely voluntary and for the most part ignored in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/if-i-were-assigned-poems-i-suppose-i-d-write-more-of-them-but-it-is/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [“There are those, too, who are ethnically predisposed in favor of funerals, who recognize among the black drapes and dirges an emotionally potent and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/there-are-those-too-who-are-ethnically-predisposed-in-favor-of/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [I'm lazy but generally task oriented so having a hoop to jump through means eventually I'll make the effort.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/i-m-lazy-but-generally-task-oriented-so-having-a-hoop-to-jump-through/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [There's no easy way to do this. So do it right: weep, laugh, watch, pray, love, live, give thanks and praise; comfort, mend, honor,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/there-s-no-easy-way-to-do-this-so-do-it-right-weep-laugh-watch-pray/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [Grief is the price we pay for being close to one another. If we want to avoid our grief, we simply avoid each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/grief-is-the-price-we-pay-for-being-close-to-one-another-if-we-want/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) > [“I will, I do, Amen, Here Here, Let's eat, drink and be merry. Marriage is the public spectacle of private parts: cheque-books and genitals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/i-will-i-do-amen-here-here-let-s-eat-drink-and-be-merry-marriage-is/) [Thomas Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) [Explore all 35 Thomas Lynch quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/) ## 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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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 ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The flush toilet, more than any single invention, has 'civilized' us in a way that religion and law could never accomplish.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Lynch" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/the-flush-toilet-more-than-any-single-invention-has-civilized-us-in-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Civilized" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/the-flush-toilet-more-than-any-single-invention-has-civilized-us-in-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a62/thomas-lynch-18339_civilized_the-flush-toilet-more-than-any-single-in_1835236.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a62/thomas-lynch-18339_civilized_the-flush-toilet-more-than-any-single-in_1835236.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a62/thomas-lynch-18339_civilized_the-flush-toilet-more-than-any-single-in_1835236.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The flush toilet, more than any single invention, has 'civilized' us in a way that religion and law could…” — Thomas Lynch", "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": "Thomas Lynch", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lynch/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The flush toilet, more than any...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/the-flush-toilet-more-than-any-single-invention-has-civilized-us-in-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lynch/the-flush-toilet-more-than-any-single-invention-has-civilized-us-in-a/#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 } } ] } ```