sábado, março 24, 2007
Civilisation, 1968
"Looking at these great works of Western man and remembering all that he has achieved in philosophy, poetry, science, law making... it does seem hard to believe that European Civilisation can ever vanish. And yet, you know, it has happened once. All the life-giving human activities that we lump together under the word Civilisation have been obliterated once in Western Europe. For two centuries the heart of European Civilisation stopped beating.
We got through it by the skin of our teeth. In the last few years we have developed an uneasy feeling that this could happen again. And advanced thinkers, who, even in Roman times, thought it fine to gang up with the Barbarians, have begun to question if civilisation is worth preserving.
[...]
I don't think civilisation will disappear as long as we believe in it. But it will if we don't."
Lord Kenneth Clark
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We got through it by the skin of our teeth. In the last few years we have developed an uneasy feeling that this could happen again. And advanced thinkers, who, even in Roman times, thought it fine to gang up with the Barbarians, have begun to question if civilisation is worth preserving.
[...]
I don't think civilisation will disappear as long as we believe in it. But it will if we don't."
Lord Kenneth Clark
