GKC

"The great intellectual tradition that comes

down to us from the past was never

interrupted or lost through such trifles

as the sack of Rome, the triumph

of Attila, or all the barbarian invasions

of the Dark Ages. It was lost after the

introduction of printing, the discovery

of America, the coming of the marvels of

technology, the establishment of universal

education, and all the enlightenment of the

modern world.It was there, if anywhere,

that there was lost or impatiently snapped

the long thin delicate thread that had

descended from distant antiquity;

the thread of that unusual human hobby:

the habit of thinking."