--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We should avoid being backward-looking…" description: "\"We should avoid being backward-looking, concerned with restoration and reaction, for it is the last few centuries that have spawned the pox that is now..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2f/guillaume-faye-43585_century_we-should-avoid-being-backward-looking-c_1573968.png" --- # We should avoid being backward-looking, concerned with… ![“We should avoid being backward-looking, concerned with restoration and reaction, for it is the last few centuries that have spawned the pox that is now devouring us. It is a matter of returning to archaic and ancestral values, while at the same time envisioning the future as something more than…” quote by Guillaume Faye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2f/guillaume-faye-43585_century_we-should-avoid-being-backward-looking-c_1573968.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2f/guillaume-faye-43585_century_we-should-avoid-being-backward-looking-c_1573968.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2f/guillaume-faye-43585_century_we-should-avoid-being-backward-looking-c_1573968.png) > “We should avoid being backward-looking, concerned with restoration and reaction, for it is the last few centuries that have spawned the pox that is now devouring us. It is a matter of returning to archaic and ancestral values, while at the same time envisioning the future as something more than the extension of the present.” [Guillaume Faye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guillaume-faye/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Looking backward hinders progress; we must blend ancient wisdom with future vision. **In simple terms:** Don’t linger on the past; combine old values with new ideas. Key Takeaway Integrate tradition with innovation. Themes history future tradition progress Mood thoughtful serious Type philosophical strategic When to use this quote - policy making - education reform - community building - personal growth Key Concepts cultural theory philosophy Questions to Reflect On - How can ancient values guide modern challenges? - What future vision excites you? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on tradition may resist necessary change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ancestral Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ancestral-values-5931079/) [Avoid Backward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avoid-backward-5931080/) [Backward Looking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/backward-looking-1584857/) [Century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/century/) [Concerned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concerned/) [Concerned Restoration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concerned-restoration-5931078/) [Devouring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/devouring/) [Envisioning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/envisioning/) [Extensions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extensions/) [Lasts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lasts/) [Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matter/) [Pox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pox/) [Reactions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reactions/) [Restoration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/restoration/) [Returning Archaic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/returning-archaic-5931077/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/) ## Related quotes > [Not since the days of George W. 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He was probably envisioning a machine headed for Pluto. I wished i…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-chandler/we-sat-in-silence-both-of-us-looking-up-at-the-stars-he-was-probably/) [Elizabeth Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-chandler/) > [“I had this tendency to think things through a little too much, envisioning things in the future while I completely missed the present.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-clark/i-had-this-tendency-to-think-things-through-a-little-too-much/) [Catherine Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-clark/) ## More by Guillaume Faye > [“What we strive to restore and re-animate will never come from the promises of the middle class politicians, but will come instead from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guillaume-faye/what-we-strive-to-restore-and-re-animate-will-never-come-from-the/) [Guillaume Faye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guillaume-faye/) > [The present dominant values (xenophilia, cosmopolitanism, narcissistic individualism, humanitarianism, bourgeois economism, hedonism, homophilia, permissivenes, etc.) are actually anti-values - values of devirilising weakness, since…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guillaume-faye/the-present-dominant-values-xenophilia-cosmopolitanism-narcissistic/) [Guillaume Faye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guillaume-faye/) > [Today it is not a matter of ‘conserving’ the present or returning to a recent past that has failed, but rather of regaining possession…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guillaume-faye/today-it-is-not-a-matter-of-conserving-the-present-or-returning-to-a/) [Guillaume Faye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guillaume-faye/) > [“We fight for a vision of the world that is both traditional and Faustian, that allies enrootment and disinstallation, the citizen’s freedom and imperial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guillaume-faye/we-fight-for-a-vision-of-the-world-that-is-both-traditional-and/) [Guillaume Faye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guillaume-faye/) > [In a society that considers all genuine ideas subversive, which seeks to discourage ideological imagination, and which aims to abolish thought in favour of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guillaume-faye/in-a-society-that-considers-all-genuine-ideas-subversive-which-seeks/) [Guillaume Faye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guillaume-faye/) > [“It’s necessary that everyone does his duty and works in his place - devotes himself to constructing a body of fundamental values - against…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guillaume-faye/it-s-necessary-that-everyone-does-his-duty-and-works-in-his-place/) [Guillaume Faye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guillaume-faye/) > [We are standing face to face with the barbarians. 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