---
title: "One musn't overrate the culture of what used to be called 'top people… — Kenneth Clark Quote #33 | QuotesBy.net"
description: "One musn't overrate the culture of what used to be called 'top people' before the wars. They had charming manners, but they were as ignorant as swans. — a quote by Kenneth Clark."
image: "https://quotesby.net/wp-content/themes/quotesby-editorial/assets/og-default.png"
---

> # One musn't overrate the culture of what used to be called 'top people' before the wars. They had charming manners, but they were as ignorant as swans.

[Kenneth Clark](https://quotesby.net/Kenneth-Clark)\#33[WhatsApp (opens in a new tab)](https://wa.me/?text=%E2%80%9COne%20musn%27t%20overrate%20the%20culture%20of%20what%20used%20to%20be%20called%20%27top%20people%27%20before%20the%20wars.%20They%20had%20charming%20manners%2C%20but%20they%20were%20as%20ignorant%20as%20swans.%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%94%20Kenneth%20Clark%20https%3A%2F%2Fquotesby.net%2FKenneth-Clark%2F33%2F)[X (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%E2%80%9COne%20musn%27t%20overrate%20the%20culture%20of%20what%20used%20to%20be%20called%20%27top%20people%27%20before%20the%20wars.%20They%20had%20charming%20manners%2C%20but%20they%20were%20as%20ignorant%20as%20swans.%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%94%20Kenneth%20Clark&url=https%3A%2F%2Fquotesby.net%2FKenneth-Clark%2F33%2F)[Facebook (opens in a new tab)](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fquotesby.net%2FKenneth-Clark%2F33%2F)

## More from Kenneth Clark

1. > Our universe cannot even be stated symbolically. And this touches us all more directly than one might suppose. For example, artists, who have been very little …

[Permalink to quote \#32](https://quotesby.net/Kenneth-Clark/32/ "Permalink to quote 32")
2. > Bright-minded young people think poorly of existing institutions and want to abolish them. Well, one doesn't need to be young to dislike institutions. But the …

[Permalink to quote \#34](https://quotesby.net/Kenneth-Clark/34/ "Permalink to quote 34")
3. > Sweeping, confident articles on the future seem to me, intellectually, the most disreputable of all forms of public utterance.

[Permalink to quote \#31](https://quotesby.net/Kenneth-Clark/31/ "Permalink to quote 31")

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