J.R.R. Tolkien — enemy of progress — an excerpt:
Obsession with either past or future can almost define a civilization. Worldwide, most cultures believed in some lost golden age when people knew more, mused loftier thoughts and were closer to the gods — but then fell from grace. Under this dour but recurrent worldview, men and women of a later, coarser era can only look back with envy, hearkening to remnants of ancient wisdom.
Or as They Might Be Giants say in Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head:
Yes it’s sad to say you will romanticize
All the things you’ve known before
It was not not not so great
It was not not not so great
That said, I want to go see the movie.
