Every new generation believes its own period to be absolutely superior intellectually - greater than all past cultures yet equal among its modern cultures.

We often hear about stepping outside ourselves, but rarely about stepping outside our generation.

If you assume that the new - and simply because it's new - is always to be better than the old, chances are you've never known anything valuable.

Humility is, in a sense, admitting how egotistical you are.

I am not convinced within myself that to its core and as a whole, humanity has, as some like to assume, progressed a great deal over the millennia. Human technology? Of course. Human beings? Hardly.

I respect traditional people - they have the eyes which see value in the tarnished. This is a gift in itself. Tradition requires a wealth of discipline in order to be adhered to, hence it is rarely found in youth.