We rise and fall

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“It is only in recent times that human beings have come to see themselves as potentially godlike. Ancient thinkers were more intelligent as well as more honest. They knew that human action can change the world, sometimes for the good. They also knew that civilizations rise and fall; what has been gained will be lost, then regained and then lost again in a cycle as natural as the seasons.” --John Gray, The Soul of the Marionette, p. 161

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