Public Banks

Famous quotes containing the words public and/or banks:

    I’ll sing you a new ballad, and I’ll warrant it first-rate,
    Of the days of that old gentleman who had that old estate;
    When they spent the public money at a bountiful old rate
    On ev’ry mistress, pimp, and scamp, at ev’ry noble gate,
    In the fine old English Tory times;
    Charles Dickens (1812–1890)

    Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.
    Will Durant (1885–1981)