What ancient poets, philosophers can teach us about today’s loud world

8 min readNew DelhiJul 27, 2026 06:50 PM IST First published on: Jul 27, 2026 at 06:50 PM IST There are moments in the life of every civilisation when it must decide not what it wishes to possess, but what it is willing to relinquish. Kingdoms have been built by conquest. Empires have flourished through accumulation. Markets persuade us that more is always better, louder is always stronger, faster is always wiser. History, however, is a quieter teacher.