They counteract the tendency to vulgarity, which is the great danger of a newly launched society, so that our social condition improves, rather than retrogrades, with every decade.
"Manners and Social Usages"
Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood
Indeed, no man remains unaffected by them; he either advances or retrogrades, and it is very apparent already among us that while soldiering does make some men, it un makes many.
"Three Years in the Federal Cavalry"
Willard Glazier
The heart of man beats on the same eternal springs; and whether he advances or retrogrades, he cannot escape out of the march of human thought.
"Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 (of 3)"
Isaac Disraeli