--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: With the \"civilized\" person contentment…" description: "\"With the \"civilized\" person contentment is a myth. From the cradle to the grave they are forever longing and striving after something better, an indefi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e2/william-matthews-20067_civilized_with-the-civilized-person-contentment-is_2924362.png" --- # With the "civilized" person contentment is a myth. From… ![“With the "civilized" person contentment is a myth. From the cradle to the grave they are forever longing and striving after something better, an indefinable something, some new object yet unattained.” quote by William Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e2/william-matthews-20067_civilized_with-the-civilized-person-contentment-is_2924362.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e2/william-matthews-20067_civilized_with-the-civilized-person-contentment-is_2924362.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e2/william-matthews-20067_civilized_with-the-civilized-person-contentment-is_2924362.png) > “With the "civilized" person contentment is a myth. From the cradle to the grave they are forever longing and striving after something better, an indefinable something, some new object yet unattained.” [William Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-matthews/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human beings are inherently restless, always seeking something beyond current satisfaction, making true contentment elusive. **In simple terms:** People always want more. Key Takeaway Accept the drive for growth. Themes desire restlessness myth human nature aspiration Mood thoughtful hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal development - career ambition - creative pursuits - spiritual practice Key Concepts existentialism psychology philosophy of happiness Questions to Reflect On - What does “enough” look like for you? - Can striving be balanced with gratitude? A Different Perspective The endless pursuit can lead to chronic dissatisfaction. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized/) [Civilized Person](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-person-893636/) [Contentment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contentment/) [Contentment Myth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contentment-myth-4278153/) [Cradle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cradle/) [Forever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forever/) [Graves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/graves/) [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) [Indefinable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/indefinable/) [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Myth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/myth/) [Objects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/objects/) [Person Contentment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/person-contentment-4278154/) [Persons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persons/) [Something better](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/something-better/) [Strive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strive/) ## Related quotes > [“The next day Stapes staged another dinner and I made more mistakes. 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Garcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liz-w-garcia/) > [The greatest right of a civilized person is to be left alone, unless he does harm to others or is threatening to do harm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-goldberg/the-greatest-right-of-a-civilized-person-is-to-be-left-alone-unless/) [Arthur Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-goldberg/) > [“Civilized people must, I believe, satisfy the following criteria: 1) They respect human beings as individuals and are therefore always tolerant, gentle, courteous and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/civilized-people-must-i-believe-satisfy-the-following-criteria-1-they/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [The aesthetic event is something as evident, as immediate, as indefinable as love, the taste of fruit, as water. We feel poetry as we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorge-luis-borges/the-aesthetic-event-is-something-as-evident-as-immediate-as/) [Jorge Luis Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorge-luis-borges/) > [I've never been able to understand what they mean by 'Pinteresque,'. I'm sure it's indefinable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-pinter/i-ve-never-been-able-to-understand-what-they-mean-by-pinteresque-i-m/) [Harold Pinter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-pinter/) > [There is something in the Olympics, indefinable, springing from the soul, that must be preserved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-is-something-in-the-olympics-indefinable-springing-from-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by William Matthews > [The petty cares, the minute anxieties, the infinite littles which go to make up the sum of human experience, like the invisible granules of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-matthews/the-petty-cares-the-minute-anxieties-the-infinite-littles-which-go-to/) [William Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-matthews/) > [Talking, is a digestive process which is absolutely essential to the mental constitution of the man who devours many books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-matthews/talking-is-a-digestive-process-which-is-absolutely-essential-to-the/) [William Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-matthews/) > [Criminals are opportunists. 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You may salute a man and exchange compliments with him daily, yet know nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-matthews/there-is-a-wide-difference-between-general-acquaintance-and/) [William Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-matthews/) > [Go to the desk. Stay at the desk. Thrive at the desk.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-matthews/go-to-the-desk-stay-at-the-desk-thrive-at-the-desk/) [William Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-matthews/) > [One wellcultivated talent, deepened and enlarged, is worth 100 shallow faculties. The first law of success in this day, when so many things are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-matthews/one-wellcultivated-talent-deepened-and-enlarged-is-worth-100-shallow/) [William Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-matthews/) > [The same disappointments in life will chasten and refine one man's spirit, embitter another's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-matthews/the-same-disappointments-in-life-will-chasten-and-refine-one-man-s/) [William Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-matthews/) > [As frost, raised to its utmost intensity, produces the sensation of fire, so any good quality, overwrought and pushed to excess, turns into its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-matthews/as-frost-raised-to-its-utmost-intensity-produces-the-sensation-of/) [William Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-matthews/) > [The power of music that poetry lacks is the ability to persuade without argument.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-matthews/the-power-of-music-that-poetry-lacks-is-the-ability-to-persuade/) [William Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-matthews/) > [What lasting progress was ever made in social reformation, except when every step was insured by appeals to the understanding and the will?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-matthews/what-lasting-progress-was-ever-made-in-social-reformation-except-when/) [William Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-matthews/) > [Unless a man has trained himself for his chance, the chance will only make him ridiculous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-matthews/unless-a-man-has-trained-himself-for-his-chance-the-chance-will-only/) [William Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-matthews/) > [The fullest instruction, and the fullest enjoyment are never derived from books, till we have ventilated the ideas thus obtained in free and easy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-matthews/the-fullest-instruction-and-the-fullest-enjoyment-are-never-derived/) [William Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-matthews/) [Explore all 31 William Matthews quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-matthews/) ## 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. 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