two fun MMM type quotes:
"we must learn how to be civilized without being comfortable"
"the Athenians are far behind even our grandfathers....Or, to reverse the case: we must understand that an Athenian would have pronounced our boasted 'civilization' hopelessly artificial, and our life so dependent on outward material props and factors as to be scarcely worth the living. He would declare himself well able to live happily under conditions where the average American or Englishman would be cold, semi-starved and miserable."
Both from W.S. Davis, "A Day in Old Athens" Chapter 2, section 12 "The Simplicity of Athenian Life" (pages 14- 15). This book was originally printed 1914 but our library's edition seems to match the 1961 google link below (cover art different but same pagination). Was browsing the library for armchair possible travel prep, we might go to Greece & Turkey in 2016. The shorter quote is actually itself a quote (Zimmern, "The Greek Commonwealth", p209).
link to "A Day in Old Athens", in case you're curious about the rest of section 12:
https://books.google.com/books?id=aMb7zeF53rsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=A+Day+in+Old+Athens&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hZStVLWbBcudgwSUhYKADg&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=A%20Day%20in%20Old%20Athens&f=false
