On the naturalness of gratitude (as obscured by not obliterated by our pursuit of rational control): Many thinkers today contend that there has been a steepdecline in the ethos of gratitude in modern America, citing as causes failuresin civic education and a diminishing influence of religion. (firstthings.com)
We are, as it were, in flight from history, and whenever history catches up with us, as it did intermittently before World War II and has done continuously since, we endeavor to gain our freedom from it by obliterating in one great effort the issue that blocks our way. (religion-online.org)
A major work had somehow slipped in, at the cost of obliterating everything around it. (haberarts.com)