Why the West Rules—for Now Quotes

“History, n. An account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools.”
― Ian Matthew Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“Success creates new problems; solving them creates still newer problems. Life, as they say, is a vale of tears.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“It is not that there is no food,” one commissar insisted. “There is plenty of grain, but 90 percent of the people have ideological problems.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“Western civilization is essentially an amalgam of intellectual constructs which were designed to further the interests of their authors.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“We are not going to reduce energy capture unless catastrophe forces us to—which means that the only way to avoid running out of resources, poisoning the planet, or both, will be by tapping into renewable, clean power.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“around 11,000 BCE an elderly woman was buried at ‘Ain Mallaha with one hand resting on a puppy, both of them curled up as if asleep.”
― Ian Matthew Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“All this comes under the heading of what the journalist Thomas L. Friedman has called “the really scary stuff we already know.” Much worse is what he calls “the even scarier stuff we don’t know.” The problem, Friedman explains, is that what we face is not global warming but “global weirding.” Climate change is nonlinear: everything is connected to everything else, feeding back in ways too bewilderingly complex to model. There will be tipping points when the environment shifts abruptly and irreversibly, but we don’t know where they are or what will happen when we reach them.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“What all this adds up to is the conclusion that Western rule by 2000 was neither a long-term lock-in nor a short-term accident. It was more of a long-term probability. It”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“Evolution selects for what we call common sense.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“Piracy paid: Drake’s backers realized a 4,700 percent return on their investment, and using just three-quarters of her share Queen Elizabeth cleared England’s entire foreign debt.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“China can fairly be said to have developed the most rational selection processes for state service known to history.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“the Romans first neutralized Greek philosophy, then turned Christianity into a prop for their empire.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“Neither politicians nor statistics always lie; it is just that there is no such thing as a completely neutral way to present either policies or numbers. Every”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“Politicians and advertisers have turned misleading us with statistics into a fine art. Already”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“One grave of around 6000 BCE held an eight-hole flute, capable of playing any modern melody.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“A rather unpleasant genetic study has suggested that human body lice, which drink our blood and live in our clothes, evolved around fifty thousand years ago as a little bonus for the first fashionistas.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“The great question for our times is not whether the West will continue to rule. It is whether humanity as a whole will break through to an entirely new kind of existence before disaster strikes us down—permanently.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“By 1870, Britain’s steam engines generated 4 million horsepower, equivalent to the work of 40 million men, who—if industry had still depended on muscles—would have eaten more than three times Britain’s entire wheat output.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“Yet from almost the first moment factories filled England’s skies with smoke, European intellectuals realized that they had a problem. As problems went, it was not a bad one: they appeared to be taking over the world, but did not know why.”
― Ian Matthew Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“We have been cursed to live in interesting times.”
― Ian Matthew Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“And each [band of ancient humans] surely knew that their gods loved them, because they were, in spite of everything, still alive.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“Out of the corner of her eye Victoria could see the little Chinese band on the pier. Their silk robes and funny hats had looked splendid an hour ago, but were now thoroughly bedraggled in the English rain. Four times the band had struck up some Oriental cacophony, thinking that Qiying’s litter was about to be carried ashore, and four times had given up. The fifth time, though, they stuck to it. Victoria’s stomach lurched. Qiying must be ashore at last. It was really happening.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“Great men (and women) clearly like thinking that by force of will alone they are changing the world, but they are mistaken.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“We all have free will, and, as I have repeatedly stressed, our choices do change the world. It is just that most of our choices do not change the world very much.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“Biology tells us that we are animals, and like all living things we exist only because we capture energy from our surroundings. When”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“If there is any place for bungling idiots in this story, it surely belongs to Columbus, who opened the road to Tenochtitlán by massively underestimating the distance around the globe and refusing to believe that he had the numbers wrong. Conversely,”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“There is no more need for writing; what is left is to practice.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“(In addition to writing The Prince, Machiavelli also penned the finest comedies of his age.) Visitors”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“Thinking of it rends my entrails.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

“Qin had invented the body count.”
― Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future