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About this quote

What does it mean?
Europe is amazing but it feels stuck in the past and looks backward too much.
In plain terms
Europe is wonderful yet seems overly focused on history.
What can you take from it?
Europe impresses but may lack forward-looking energy.

Where it applies

  • travel
  • historical study
  • comparative analysis

Putting it to work

  • tourism
  • cultural criticism
  • urban planning

Questions to consider

  • Does history hold back progress?
  • What is the balance between old and new?

Another view

Valuing the past is not inherently negative and can preserve culture.

More from Henry van Dyke

  1. Oh, London is a man's town, there's power in the air; And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair; And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great …

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  2. Oh, it's home again, and home again, America for me! I want a ship that's westward bound to plow the rolling sea, To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the…

    Permalink to quote #35
  3. For ever so our thoughtful hearts repeat On fields of triumph dirges of defeat; And still we turn on gala-days to tread Among the rustling memories of the dead.

    Permalink to quote #32

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