“Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe.” “Only within the moment of time represented by the present century as one species, man, acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.” “As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy.” “Three things are to be looked to in a building: that it stand on the right spot that it be securely founded that it be successfully executed.” “Computers are like Old Testament gods: lots of rules and no mercy.” “Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.” “The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is its inefficiency.” “Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England.” “Wherever we look, the work of the chemist has raised the level of our civilization and has increased the productive capacity of the nation.” “So teach us to number our days, so that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” This was the first time that a sitting president used the third derivative to advance his case for reelection.” “In the fall of 1972 President Nixon announced that the rate of increase of inflation was decreasing. “Here Hector entered, with a spear eleven cubits long in his hand the bronze point gleamed in front of him, and was fastened to the shaft of the spear by a ring of gold.” “If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn’t.” “Happiness: a good bank account, a good cook and a good digestion.” “The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophes.” “Joyfully to the breeze royal Odysseus spread his sail, and with his rudder skillfully he steered.” We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.” “The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle’s own plumes.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.” The farmers therefore are the founders of human civilization.” “Where tillage begins, other arts follow. “Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?” “Their rising all at once was as the sound of thunder heard remote.” “Do you not know, my son, with what little understanding the world is ruled?” “In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” “Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasion for it.” “A single death is a tragedy a million deaths is a statistic.” “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” “The voice of the people is the voice of God.” “This life of man appears for a short space, but of what went before, or what is to follow, we are utterly ignorant.” “An emperor is subject to no one but God and Justice.” “The day of small nations has long passed away. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.” “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. “For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” That’s not my department,’ says Wernher von Braun.” “‘Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? “The king’s might is greater than human, and his arm is very long.” “Proud is the spirit of Zeus-fostered kings – their honor comes from Zeus, and Zeus, god of council, loves them.” With a bit of data-mining, I was able to successfully extract them with little effort. Luckily for me, the vast majority of the game data can be found in XML files in the game’s installation directory. However, I could not find a single collection of them online so I began to look elsewhere for them. In Civilization V, I found the quotes the development team chose to be exceptional.
The quotes are as wide ranging as the scope of the game as it spans from every culture and every era in the history of the world. As with almost every game in the series, a quote is given whenever a major event happens (such as a new technology researched or entering a new era). With a new Civilization game out from Firaxis, there comes a new round of quotes.