--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In the advance of civilization, it is new…" description: "\"In the advance of civilization, it is new knowledge which paves the way, and the pavement is eternal.\" — Willis R. Whitney" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a8/willis-r-whitney-41381_civilization_in-the-advance-of-civilization-it-is-new_1178110.png" --- # In the advance of civilization, it is new knowledge which… ![“In the advance of civilization, it is new knowledge which paves the way, and the pavement is eternal.” quote by Willis R. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a8/willis-r-whitney-41381_civilization_in-the-advance-of-civilization-it-is-new_1178110.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a8/willis-r-whitney-41381_civilization_in-the-advance-of-civilization-it-is-new_1178110.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a8/willis-r-whitney-41381_civilization_in-the-advance-of-civilization-it-is-new_1178110.png) > “In the advance of civilization, it is new knowledge which paves the way, and the pavement is eternal.” [Willis R. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-r-whitney/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. New knowledge drives progress, creating lasting foundations for civilization. **In simple terms:** Knowledge builds lasting progress. Key Takeaway Invest in learning and innovation. Themes progress knowledge civilization Mood optimistic inspired Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - research institutions - policy making - technological development - education reform Key Concepts innovation education legacy Questions to Reflect On - How can we ensure new knowledge becomes actionable? - What structures turn ideas into lasting impact? A Different Perspective Knowledge alone may not translate into practical change without action. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Eternal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternal/) [Eternity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternity/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [New knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-knowledge/) ## Related quotes > [Knowledge paves the way to Love, and Love in its turn fosters understanding, and leads one along the path of great common achievements.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haile-selassie/knowledge-paves-the-way-to-love-and-love-in-its-turn-fosters/) [Haile Selassie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haile-selassie/) > [We may be sure that out of the ruins of our capitalist civilization a new religion will emerge, just as Christianity emerged from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-read/we-may-be-sure-that-out-of-the-ruins-of-our-capitalist-civilization-a/) [Herbert Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-read/) > [“We have been shirking too long, and that's unworthy of a great civilization. To see off the new Dark Ages will be tough and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-steyn/we-have-been-shirking-too-long-and-that-s-unworthy-of-a-great/) [Mark Steyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-steyn/) > [There is every indication that we are to see new developments of the power of aggregated capital to serve civilization, and that the new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-graham-sumner/there-is-every-indication-that-we-are-to-see-new-developments-of-the/) [William Graham Sumner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-graham-sumner/) > [It is the object of learning, not only to satisfy the curiosity and perfect the spirits of ordinary men, but also to advance civilization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woodrow-wilson/it-is-the-object-of-learning-not-only-to-satisfy-the-curiosity-and/) [Woodrow Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woodrow-wilson/) > [Every advance in civilization has been denounced as unnatural while it was recent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/every-advance-in-civilization-has-been-denounced-as-unnatural-while/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [What it values most of all is the sum total of events and the advance of civilization, which carries individuals along with it; but,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-vigny/what-it-values-most-of-all-is-the-sum-total-of-events-and-the-advance/) [Alfred de Vigny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-vigny/) > [It seems to me, Golan, that the advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/it-seems-to-me-golan-that-the-advance-of-civilization-is-nothing-but/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [“The advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/the-advance-of-civilization-is-nothing-but-an-exercise-in-the/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [The regularity with which we conclude that further advances in a particular field are impossible seems equaled only by the regularity with which events…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/the-regularity-with-which-we-conclude-that-further-advances-in-a/) [Willis R. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-r-whitney/) > [“I look at his hands. In those hands is new knowledge.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/i-look-at-his-hands-in-those-hands-is-new-knowledge/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [The old knowledge had been difficult but not distressing. It had been all paradox and myth, and it had made sense. The new knowledge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/the-old-knowledge-had-been-difficult-but-not-distressing-it-had-been/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Life consists in penetrating the unknown, and fashioning our actions in accord with the new knowledge thus acquired.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/life-consists-in-penetrating-the-unknown-and-fashioning-our-actions/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [It is proper to the role of the scientist that he not merely find new truth and communicate it to his fellows, but that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/it-is-proper-to-the-role-of-the-scientist-that-he-not-merely-find-new/) [J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/) > [I ... must continue to strive for more knowledge and more power, though the new knowledge always contradicts the old and the new power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/i-must-continue-to-strive-for-more-knowledge-and-more-power-though/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) ## More by Willis R. Whitney > [“Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do something, when all they need is one reason why they can.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/some-men-have-thousands-of-reasons-why-they-cannot-do-something-when/) [Willis R. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-r-whitney/) > [Research is appreciation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/research-is-appreciation/) [Willis R. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-r-whitney/) > [Somebody is always reflectively monkeying with some of the parts of an infinite universe - monkeying as distinct from aping.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/somebody-is-always-reflectively-monkeying-with-some-of-the-parts-of/) [Willis R. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-r-whitney/) > [The regularity with which we conclude that further advances in a particular field are impossible seems equaled only by the regularity with which events…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/the-regularity-with-which-we-conclude-that-further-advances-in-a/) [Willis R. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-r-whitney/) > [Necessity is not the mother of invention. Knowledge and experiment are its parents. It sometimes happens that successful search is made for unknown materials…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/necessity-is-not-the-mother-of-invention-knowledge-and-experiment-are/) [Willis R. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-r-whitney/) > [Our immediate interests are after all of but small moment. It is what we do for the future, what we add to the sum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/our-immediate-interests-are-after-all-of-but-small-moment-it-is-what/) [Willis R. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-r-whitney/) > [I happen to be a kind of monkey. I have a monkeylike curiosity that makes me want to feel, smell, and taste things which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/i-happen-to-be-a-kind-of-monkey-i-have-a-monkeylike-curiosity-that/) [Willis R. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-r-whitney/) > [The valuable attributes of research men are conscious ignorance and active curiosity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/the-valuable-attributes-of-research-men-are-conscious-ignorance-and/) [Willis R. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-r-whitney/) > [A persistent and age-old instinct makes us want to wander Into regions yet untrod And read what is still unread In the manuscripts of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/a-persistent-and-age-old-instinct-makes-us-want-to-wander-into/) [Willis R. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-r-whitney/) [Explore all 10 Willis R. Whitney quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-r-whitney/) ## 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": "In the advance of civilization, it is new knowledge which paves the way, and the pavement is eternal.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Willis R. Whitney" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/in-the-advance-of-civilization-it-is-new-knowledge-which-paves-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Civilization" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/in-the-advance-of-civilization-it-is-new-knowledge-which-paves-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a8/willis-r-whitney-41381_civilization_in-the-advance-of-civilization-it-is-new_1178110.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a8/willis-r-whitney-41381_civilization_in-the-advance-of-civilization-it-is-new_1178110.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a8/willis-r-whitney-41381_civilization_in-the-advance-of-civilization-it-is-new_1178110.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In the advance of civilization, it is new knowledge which paves the way, and the pavement is eternal.” — Willis R. Whitney", "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": "Willis R. Whitney", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-r-whitney/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "In the advance of civilization, it...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/in-the-advance-of-civilization-it-is-new-knowledge-which-paves-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-r-whitney/in-the-advance-of-civilization-it-is-new-knowledge-which-paves-the/#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 } } ] } ```