It seems, in fact, that the more advanced a society is, the greater will be its interest in ruined things, for it will see in them a redemptively sobering reminder of the fragility of its own achievements. Ruins pose a direct challenge to our concern with power and rank, with bustle and fame. They puncture the inflated folly of our exhaustive and frenetic pursuit of wealth. Alain De Botton
About This Quote

We all have this fascination with the past, at least I do. There are so many things that could have been done differently, differently now, now if only… For me it seems to be the grand project of life to explore the things that have gone wrong or have been forgotten by our society. The ruins are all around us, yet rarely do we take the time to really think about them. This quote makes me wonder if it is our understanding of ruins that keeps us from taking the time to really examine them. We might learn so much more about ourselves if we took the time to understand why they are there, what they are trying to tell us.

Source: The Pleasures And Sorrows Of Work

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