The trouble with righting some wrongs is that it makes the remaining ones seem even more unbearable.
A. A. GillRead
America didn’t bypass or escape civilization. It did something far more profound, far cleverer: it simply changed what civilization could be.
Interpretation
What this quote means
America redefined civilization rather than evading it.
A. A. Gill's quote suggests that America did not flee from the concept of civilization but instead transformed it into something new and innovative. This implies that the American experience and its cultural evolution have brought forth alternative understandings and expressions of civilization, extending the boundaries of what civilization entails.
Themes
CivilizationAmericaChangeCultureInnovation
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on cultural transformation, the quote can illustrate how America has evolved societal norms.
More from A. A. Gill
All quotes →If the world were to end tomorrow and we could choose to save only one thing as the explanation and memorial to who we were, then we couldn't do better than the Natural History Museum, although it wouldn't contain a single human. The systematic Linnean order, the vast inquisitiveness and range of collated knowledge and beauty would tell all that is the best of us.
A. A. GillRead
Sport is how poor kids from poor countries pass through the eye of the needle to riches and recognition.
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Being able to afford everything you desire is not, by any means, the worst thing that can happen to you. But, depressingly, and more profoundly, neither is it the best.
A. A. GillRead
Celebrity is a national drama whose characters' parts and plots are written by the tabloids, gossip columnists, websites and interactive buttons. The famous don't actually have to turn up to their own lives at all.
A. A. GillRead
Trying to learn to be a good man is like learning to play tennis against a wall. You are only a good man - a competent, capable, interesting and lovable man - when you're doing it for, or with, other people.
A. A. GillRead
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