[Dr. Pritchett]

“Knowledge will degenerate into a riot of subjective visions and Justice will be replaced by Pity as the cardinal human virtue, and all fear of retribution will vanish and The New Aristocracy will consist exclusively of hermits, bums and permanent invalids. The Rough Diamond, the Consumptive Whore, the bandit who is good to his mother, the epileptic girl who has a way with animals will be the heroes and heroines of the New Age, when the general, the statesman, and the philosopher have become the butt of every farce and satire.” From W. H. Auden’s “For the Time Being,” a prophetic poem from a half century-ago (1944).

[struggle]

Even before that:

Alexander Pope's The Dunciad:
In vain! they gaze, turn giddy, rave, and die.
Religion, blushing, veils her sacred fires,
And unawares Morality expires.
Nor public flame, nor private, dares to shine;
Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine!
Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is restored;
Light dies before thy uncreating word:
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
And universal darkness buries all.

[SunkenCiv]

Great quote, he generated a lot of great passages like that. Not bad for a poof.