“ Society acquires new arts, and loses old instincts. ”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance (1841). copy citation
| Author | Ralph Waldo Emerson |
|---|---|
| Source | Self-Reliance |
| Topic | instinct art |
| Date | 1841 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | in "Essays: First Series" |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Essays:_First_Series/Self-Reliance |
Context
“It undergoes continual changes; it is barbarous, it is civilized, it is christianized, it is rich, it is scientific; but this change is not amelioration. For every thing that is given, something is taken. Society acquires new arts, and loses old instincts. What a contrast between the well-clad, reading, writing, thinking American, with a watch, a pencil, and a bill of exchange in his pocket, and the naked New Zealander, whose property is a club, a spear, a mat, and an undivided twentieth of a shed to sleep under!”
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