Each succeeding civilization forgets its predecessor. Civilizations are ghouls. Gutzon Borglum Read Quote
Democracy has betrayed the race, because education has not served man as was expected. Gutzon Borglum Read Quote
Ten thousand years from now our civilization will have passed without leaving a trace. A new race of people will inhabit the earth. They will come to Mount Rushmore and read the record we have made. Gutzon Borglum Read Quote
I am ready to rot in jail for the rest of my life rather than admit that my small-minded enemies are right. Gutzon Borglum Read Quote
We have been concentrating on the banks, business and our bellies. We have neglected the spiritual and cultural. It was because Rome and Athens neglected these things that they fell. Gutzon Borglum Read Quote
That is how America gets her art: Contracting firms get the contract and the honor. Starving artists do the work. The government pays for sculpturing thousands of dollars, of which the sculptor gets a hundred or so. Gutzon Borglum Read Quote
There is none of that feeling about art that you meet everywhere in Europe. There you will hear people say, ‘Oh, you must see such-and-such a statue at 4 o’clock in the afternoon; then the light is beautiful,’ or, ‘See this monument in the early morning; the light is best for it then.’ Do you ever hear anything like that from an American? Gutzon Borglum Read Quote
Washington and Lincoln mean as much to us as any two men could mean to a civilization, a people, and age, but I told Mr. Coolidge when he dedicated this monument that this rock is being carved with a monument that will outlive our government. Gutzon Borglum Read Quote
