Wednesday, June 10, 2009

August 07, 2006: Isaiah Berlin's Values

Since reading Isaiah Berlin is so often a major effort of wading through sentences that are as stimulating as they are lengthy (one of which has already been quoted), I found it nice to come up with a summary of his thoughts in a single pithy statement:

Civilisation is a garden made rich and beautiful by the variety of its flowers, delicate plants which great conquering empires – Rome, Vienna, London – trample and crush out of existence.

This seemed worth considering in the midst of the current turbulence.

No comments:

Post a Comment