Finds progress, man's distinctive mark alone,
Not God's, and not the beast's;
God is, they are,
read more

Finds progress, man's distinctive mark alone,
Not God's, and not the beast's;
God is, they are,
Man partly is, and wholly hopes to be.

And striving to be Man, the worm
Mounts through all the spires of form.

And striving to be Man, the worm
Mounts through all the spires of form.

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to read more

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

From lower to the higher next,
Not to the top, is Nature's text;
And embryo good, to read more

From lower to the higher next,
Not to the top, is Nature's text;
And embryo good, to reach full stature,
Absorbs the evil in its nature.

What is art
But life upon the larger scale, the higher,
When, graduating up in a spiral read more

What is art
But life upon the larger scale, the higher,
When, graduating up in a spiral line
Of still expanding and ascending gyres,
It pushed toward the intense significance
Of all things, hungry for the Infinite?
Art's life--and where we live, we suffer and toil.

Progress has not followed a straight ascending line, but a spiral
with rhythms of progress and retrogression, of evolution read more

Progress has not followed a straight ascending line, but a spiral
with rhythms of progress and retrogression, of evolution and
dissolution.

Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.

Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.

To look up and not down,
To look forward and not back,
To look out and not read more

To look up and not down,
To look forward and not back,
To look out and not in--and
To lend a hand.

Westward the course of empire takes its way;
The four first Acts already past,
A fifth shall read more

Westward the course of empire takes its way;
The four first Acts already past,
A fifth shall close the Drama with the day;
Time's noblest offspring is the last.