During The Drawing of the Three, there is a moment when Roland is internally musing about how he once thought that (and I am heavily paraphrasing here) "the light of civilization seemed like it could not be extinguished". If not that, it was a VERY similar belief.

I would love to be able to faithfully reproduce the specific lines he mentions. So, if any of you folks could post the relevant passage I am thinking of, I would appreciate the effort.