unforeseen consequences

"Johannes Gutenberg [c.1400-1468] never intended to convert the pious, obedient European peasant into a literate political rebel, but that is one of the main things his achieved."

liberté

"In the end it was not the literate and cultured minority of Frenchmen who brought down the government, as had been the case in England and America. Instead, it was the common people, who marched upon the Bastille and then upon the King and Queen in their palace at Versailles. And they threw down the work of centuries and created not only a new government but also a new society in place of the old."
- Charles van Doren [1926-2019]

what the Renaissance was about

Piero della Francesca [1420-1492]

"The Renaissance was about the rebirth of many things but youth and good looks, health and money lay at the heart of them."
- Charles Van Doren