Quote of the Day (Evelyn Waugh, on Civilization Under Siege)

“Civilization has no force of its own beyond what is given from within. It is under constant assault and it takes most of the energies of civilized man to keep going at all ... If [it] falls we shall see not merely the dissolution of a few joint-stock corporations, but of the spiritual and material achievements of our history.”—English novelist-travel writer Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966), Robbery Under Law: The Mexican Object Lesson (1939)

You can add “cultural” and “political” before "achievements," too.