People sometimes tell me that they prefer barbarism to civilisation. I doubt if they have given it a long enough trial. Like the people of Alexandria, they are bored by civilisation; but all the evidence suggests that the boredom of barbarism is infinitely greater. Quite apart from the discomforts and privations, there was no escape from it.

Kenneth Clark (1903-1983) British art historian, museum director, broadcaster

Civilisation, A Personal View, ch. 1 “The Skin of Our Teeth” (1969)
    (Source)