The slavery of the city

How close is the relationship between ancient cities and idols - gods made by men - because they bear the same names. ... it is all intended to seduce men, to keep them from carrying out to the end the search implanted in their heart (Rev. 18.23).  There man ceases his wandering and doubt, satisfied not to leave the city in his search for genuine meaning and fulfillment. There he finds a world which he thinks fits him, a closed world where all his needs and aspirations are apparently satisfied, a world where he can afford to rest, where he has found certainty. But all the city's seductions, all the satisfactions she offers, are in fact complete slavery for men, and slavery of the most ignominious sort. ... All the inhabitants of the city are destined sooner or later to become prostitutes and members of the proletariat. ... And a remarkable slavery it is since already we see him subject to the power of money and luxury.

The Meaning of the City, Jacques Ellul, p. 54-55

All that is Gold

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

- J. R. R. Tolkien

The Use of the Past

In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.

- John Dos Passos, 1941, in “The Use of the Past”