Rebecca West Civilization Quotations

There is one common condition for the lot of women in Western civilization and all other civilizations that we know about for certain, and that is, woman as a sex is disliked and persecuted, while as an individual she is liked, loved, and even, with reasonable luck, sometimes worshipped.

Men must be capable of imagining and executing and insisting on social change if they are to reform or even maintain civilization, and capable too of furnishing the rebellion which is sometimes necessary if society is not to perish of immobility.

Women know the damnation of charity because the habit of civilization has always been to throw them cheap alms rather than give them good wages.

I cannot think that espionage can be recommended as a technique for building an impressive civilization. It's a lout's game.

Hatred of domestic work is a natural and admirable result of civilization.

Hatred of domestic work is a natural and admirable result of civilization. ... The first thing a woman does when she gets a little money into her hands is to hire some other poor wretch to do her housework.