Quote of the Week

The Anglo-Saxon is losing his grip here; in municipal politics, in urban morals, and in literary fashions he has forfeited his ancient sway. He did not care to breed as abundantly as his rivals; he thought his quality would suffice to maintain his power and prestige; but time has defeated him, and left him the losing end. The homogeneity of stock that produced the New England era in our cultural history is gone; it will be many decades before the later immigrants will equal the style and substance of Emerson, or the grace and dignity of a New England home. A rough interlude of barbaric modes and dialects must intervene while the rising stocks find their voice and poise; but in the end a new race will emerge, perhaps a new language, certainly a new literature. The passionate and artistic Mediterranean types that now mingle with the staid and prosaic Puritans will bring to our future just those elements of character and feeling that we need; a hundred of other people will pour their vitality into the stream; and we shall have a race as rich in its resources as the continent given it to rule, a race possessed of that complexity in unity which a nation must have if it is to inherit and perpetuate the civilization of the world.
--Will Durant, The Pleasures of Philosophy: A Survey of Human Life and Destiny