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Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson
English (Source)
Society never progresses. What you gain on the road, you lose on customs. (...) Society acquires new skills, but loses ancient instincts. (...) Civilized man built a cart, but lost the use of his legs. He can walk on crutches, but he has lost the same amount of muscle strength. He has a fine Geneva clock, but he can no longer tell the time from the position of the sun. He has a Greenwich ship's pocket book, and he is sure that it will give him the information if he needs it, but he does not know the stars when he walks on the street. Nor does it observe the changes in the sun's path; he hardly knows the solar sign, and in his mind no face of the clock corresponds to the whole luminous calendar of the year. His notebook spoils his memory; libraries overwhelm his natural mind; insurance companies multiply accidents; and it is a question whether machines do not hinder rather than promote; haven't we lost a lot of energy through refinement?