"Rome grew powerful through her military and political genius; and then, from Greece, she learnt to live the life of the mind. We have grown powerful through our scientific and industrial genius. The only way in which we can justify that power, use it for our own lasting benefit, and contribute something permanent to the development of the human race, is to understand and spread a system of noble spiritual ideals. Some of these we ourselves are working out. Many others we derive from Christianity. And many—in art and philosophy and literature—we have received from Greco-Roman civilization, as a priceless legacy. The real duty of man is not to extend his power or multiply his wealth beyond his needs, but to enrich and enjoy his only imperishable possession: his soul."
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Literary criticsUniversity of Oxford facultyHistorians from ScotlandPeople from GlasgowEducators from Scotland
Original Language: English
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Sources
The Classical Tradition: Greek and Roman Influences on Western Literature (1949), p. 549
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gilbert_Highet
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Gilbert Highet
Gilbert Arthur Highet (June 22, 1906 – January 20, 1978) was a Scottish-American classicist, academic, writer, intellectual, critic and literary historian.
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