Our universe cannot even be stated symbolically. And this touches us all more directly than one might suppose. For example, artists, who have been ve… - Kenneth Clark

I wonder if a single thought that has helped forward the human spirit has ever been conceived or written down in an enormous room.

Like most able men who have had to educate themselves the hard way, Charlemagne felt strongly the value of education, and in particular he saw the importance of an educated laity.

The Vikings were quartering the world; they set out from a base, and with unbelievable courage and ingenuity, they reached as far as Persia by the Volga and the Caspian Sea. Then they returned home with all their loot in these open ships, including coins from Samarkand and even a Chinese Buddha. The sheer technical skill of their journeys was a new achievement, and their spirit did contribute something very important to the Western world, because in the end, it was the spirit of Columbus.