But nowadays men can not love seven night but they must have all their desires: that love may not endure by reason; for where they be soon accorded and hasty heat, soon it cooleth. Right so fareth love nowadays, soon hot soon cold: this is no stability. But the old love was not so; men and women could love together seven years, and no licours lusts were between them, and then was love, truth, and faithfulness: and lo, in like wise was used love in King Arthur's days. Wherefore I liken love nowadays unto summer and winter; for like as the one is hot and the other cold, so fareth love nowadays; therefore all ye that be lovers call unto your remembrance the month of May, like as did Queen Guenever, for whom I make here a little mention, that while she lived she was a true lover, and therefore she had a good end.
For, dear me, why abandon a belief
Merely because it ceases to be true.
Cling to it long enough, and not a doubt
It will turn true again, for so it goes.
Most of the change we think we see in life
Is due to truths being in and out of favour.
As I sit here, and oftentimes, I wish
I could be monarch of a desert land
I could devote and dedicate forever
To the truths we keep coming back and back to.
Merely because it ceases to be true.
Cling to it long enough, and not a doubt
It will turn true again, for so it goes.
Most of the change we think we see in life
Is due to truths being in and out of favour.
As I sit here, and oftentimes, I wish
I could be monarch of a desert land
I could devote and dedicate forever
To the truths we keep coming back and back to.
Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn,
When beauty lived and died as flowers do now,
Before these bastard signs of fair were born,
Or durst inhabit on a living brow;
Before the golden tresses of the dead,
The right of sepulchres, were shorn away,
To live a second life on second head;
Ere beauty's dead fleece made another gay:
In him those holy antique hours are seen,
Without all ornament, itself and true,
Making no summer of another's green,
Robbing no old to dress his beauty new;
And him as for a map doth Nature store,
To show false Art what beauty was of yore.
When beauty lived and died as flowers do now,
Before these bastard signs of fair were born,
Or durst inhabit on a living brow;
Before the golden tresses of the dead,
The right of sepulchres, were shorn away,
To live a second life on second head;
Ere beauty's dead fleece made another gay:
In him those holy antique hours are seen,
Without all ornament, itself and true,
Making no summer of another's green,
Robbing no old to dress his beauty new;
And him as for a map doth Nature store,
To show false Art what beauty was of yore.
—William Shakespeare, "Sonnet 68"
Vince Hawkins: He's one of the old-fashioned sorts, see. Never been really happy since they took out the oil. Hates electricity.
The Doctor: I know the type. In the early days of oil, he'd have said there's nothing like a really large candle, eh?
—Doctor Who, Horror Of Fang Rock
Delenn: You, who are watching here and across Minbar...you know this place. You know its history. This is where we chose our leaders before Valen. This is where many of us served and many of us died. The Ancients understood that in war...it is always the young and the powerless who are sent off to fight. Sent by leaders and warriors and generals...who are not themselves engaged in the battle...who do not bleed on the frontlines...who do not die alone in the cold and friendless night. But here, in this place, that changed.
Shakiri: What are you playing at?
Delenn: If the Warrior caste has set aside the wisdom of Valen...if they wish to return to the old ways...then they must honor the laws set down by the Ancients.
—Babylon 5, "Moments of Transition"
This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in olden time.
So it's very interesting to note that one reason Gandhi was opposed to modern technology in Hind Swaraj is because it adds speed, not virtue. He said that the devil loves speed, whereas virtue moves much more slowly and steadily. So it is that with any new technology-the evil people are the first ones to get onto it. The hackers, the pornographers-they are the first ones to capture the information highway.
—Makarand Paranjape, Decolonizing English Studies: Attaining Swaraj
The old Klingon ways are passing. There was a time, when I was a young man, the mere mention of the Klingon Empire made worlds tremble. Now, our warriors are opening restaurants and serving racht to the grandchildren of men I slaughtered in battle.
—Kang, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Blood Oath"
"It's fallen out of fashion... flaying. Sad, but true. Traditions are important! Where are we without our history?"
"It's your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more... civilized age."
— Obi-Wan Kenobi, A New Hope
Theotocopulos: We want to make the world safe for men!
Cabal: No one prevents you.
Theotocopulos: How can we do that when your science and inventions are perpetually changing life for us? When you're everlastingly contriving strange things? When you make what we think great, seem small? When you make what we think strong, seem feeble? We don't want you in the same world with us. We don't want this expedition! We don't want Mankind to go out to the moon and to the planets. We shall hate you more if you succeed than if you fail!
"The twenty-second day of September in the year 1400 by Shire reckoning. Bag End, Bagshot Row, Hobbiton, West Farthing, The Shire, Middle Earth. The Third Age of this world. 'There and Back Again, A Hobbit’s Tale, by Bilbo Baggins'. Now, where to begin? Ah, yes. 'Concerning Hobbits'. Hobbits have been living and farming in the four Farthings of the Shire for many hundreds of years. Quite content to ignore and be ignored by the world of the Big Folk. Middle Earth being, after all, full of strange creatures beyond count. Hobbits must seem of little importance, being neither renowned as great warriors, nor counted amongst the very wise. In fact, it has been remarked by some that Hobbits' only real passion is for food. A rather unfair observation as we have also developed a keen interest in the brewing of ales and the smoking of pipeweed. But where our hearts truly lie is in peace and quiet and good tilled earth. For all Hobbits share a love of all things that grow. And yes, no doubt to others, our ways seem quaint. But today of all days, it is brought home to me it is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life."
— Bilbo Baggins, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Extended Edition
