Today's Quote: Lord Kenneth Clark

Lord Kenneth Clark (1903-1983) was a renowned British art historian, perhaps best remembered for his 1969 BBC series Civilisation, at the conclusion of which he made this statement:

At this point, I reveal myself in my true colors as a stick-in-the-mud. I hold a number of beliefs that have been repudiated by the liveliest intellects of our time. I believe that order is better than chaos, creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence, forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think that knowledge is preferable to ignorance, and I am sure that human sympathy is more valuable than ideology.

I believe that, in spite of recent triumphs of science, men haven't changed much in the last two thousand years. And in consequence, we must still try to learn from history: history is ourselves.