All of us are made up of the stories that we listen to, the ones we disagree with and the ones that we agree with.
Stanley CrouchRead
The high point of civilization is that you can hate me and I can hate you but we develop an etiquette that allows us to deal with each other because if we acted solely upon our impulse we'd probably go to war.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Civilization enables us to manage our negative feelings towards one another through established social norms.
Stanley Crouch highlights the importance of societal etiquette in maintaining peace between individuals who may harbor negative emotions towards each other. Without the constraints of civility, these personal hostilities could escalate into conflict, emphasizing that the ability to coexist despite our differences is a hallmark of advanced civilization.
Themes
CivilizationHateEtiquetteImpulseWar
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a debate about the importance of social norms in conflict resolution.
More from Stanley Crouch
All quotes →Our job as writers and thinkers in the time is how to bring about the occasions that let people have that first-person experience - or the metaphoric experience that allows them to see human continuity as opposed to total threat, total willingness to do violence.
Stanley CrouchRead
When a violent minority that crosses color lines comes to believe that killing those you know or do not know is a reasonable solution to problems, we are in need of another vision.
Stanley CrouchRead
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