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If it is asserted that civilization is a real advance in the condition of man _ and I think that it is, though only the wise improve their advantages _ it must be shown that it has produced better dwellings without making them more costly; and the cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.
Henry David Thoreau Walden
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If it is asserted that civilization is a real advance in the condition of man _ and I think that it is, though only the wise improve their advantages _ it must be shown that it has produced better dwellings without making them more costly; and the cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.

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