“People sometimes tell me that they prefer barbarism to civilisation. I doubt if they have given it a long enough trial. Like the people of Alexandria, they are bored by civilisation; but all the evidence suggests that the boredom of barbarism is infinitely greater.”

—  Kenneth Clark

Source: Civilisation (1969), Ch. 1: The Skin of Our Teeth

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Kenneth Clark photo
Kenneth Clark 47
Art historian, broadcaster and museum director 1903–1983

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