"Sometimes," Ezio replies, and he fixes her with an odd look; there are things he has never put to words before. "I admire what scientists have discovered about medicine or the natural world, and what wondrous inventions have made it possible for people to do incredible things, or speak across time as we are now. But there is something to be said about how little people have learned since my time, and likely yours as well."

A considering pause. An admission:

"Perhaps it was too optimistic to think people would become less warlike, less prone to corruption."