The above was written in 1899, and the book which is the source of the quote has been subject to ridicule from the usual crowd in this cynical and “know-it-all” age. Nevertheless there is a lot of truth in that little quote. We can see it playing out now as the author predicted.

Our age has produced generations of people who think that our era symbolizes some kind of pinnacle of human knowledge and wisdom. Yet we are not wise enough to admit or even to see, in many cases, that today’s philosophy of life has brought a lot of misery and unhappiness, and may end in our disappearance as a people. Speaking for  myself, I don’t find the past worthy of derision; my grandparents and their generation were far wiser, though perhaps less ‘educated’ than today’s self-absorbed perpetual adolescents of all ages. It’s too bad we chose to abandon the rules and standards by which we lived in their day, which produced stability and a legacy they passed on to posterity. Is it too late to restore that?