What Is History? Part 5
History doesn’t repeat itself. People just keep making the same mistakes. —unknown
History is a debate without end. —unknown
History is not narration as Thierry thought, nor analysis as Guizot thought, it is resurrection. —Michelet
Historiography communicates what the historian knows or thinks he knows; thus any significant analysis of a historian’s way of thinking must relate it to his way of knowing. —J.H. Hexter
By now nearly all of us have accepted Croce’s dictum that the writing of history necessarily changes with the standpoint of the historian, that all history is contemporary in the sense that its representation reflects the circumstances and attitudes of those who write it. —H. Stuart Hughes
Which is more dangerous: an historian who doesn’t know any economics or an economist who doesn’t know any history? —Murray Rothbard
We live forward, but we can only think backward. —Kierkegaard
History cannot be changed, but to some extent it can be reconstructed. —E. Milby Burton
To historians is granted a talent that even the gods are denied—to alter what has already happened. —Ambrose Bierce
Since God himself cannot change the past, he is obliged to tolerate the existence of historians. —Samuel Butler
History may defeat the Christ but it nevertheless points to him as the law of life. —Reinhold Niebuhr
After the collection of facts, the search for causes. —Hippolyte Taine
History is, in essentials, the science of change. —Marc Bloch
The historian amputates reality. —Salvemini
History repeats itself because no one was listening the first time. —unknown
History would be an impossible area of human reflection if there were no recurrent attributes of human nature. —W.H. Coate
Mankind are so much the same, in all times and places, that history informs us of nothing new or strange in this particular. Its chief use is only to discover the constant and universal principles of human nature. —Hume
History is the collection and systematic arrangement of all data of experience concerning human action. It deals with the concrete content of human action. It studies all human endeavors in their infinite multiplicity and variety. . . . The study of history makes a man wise and judicious. But it does not by itself provide any knowledge and skill which could be utilized for handling concrete tasks. —Ludwig von Mises
In the last resort, sheer insight is the greatest asset of all. —Sir Herbert Butterfield
They [contemporary American historians] were interested in their profession, without paying much, if any, interest in the nature of their profession. —John Lukacs
An autobiography is the truest of all books, for while it inevitably consists mainly of extinctions of the truth . . . the remorseless truth is there, between the lines. —Mark Twain
History maketh a young man to be old, without either wrinkles or gray hairs; priviledging him with the experience of age, without either the infirmities of inconveniencies thereof. —Thomas Fuller
The time for exacting a lesson from history is ever at hand for those who are wise. —Demosthenes
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
—T.S. Eliot
***
Contributed by Prof. R.M Gamble:
Are there no calamities in history? Nothing tragic? May we never weep over the defeated? . . . Must we always desert the cause as soon as fortune foresakes it, and bind ourselves to the cause which is in the ascendant, and hurrah in the crowd that throw up their caps in honour of the conqueror? —Orestes Brownson, as quoted by Christopher Lasch
Entries(RSS)
From the bleechers [or the branches] we started to view history in ernest and in the making and, chatting about it at long last.
There were the lions (from Detroit) the bears (from Chicago) the Tigers (from ?) etc. and those of us player/fans that got away, we'd from the branches continue to root on our kind... 'come on, come on - you can make it!!! Look at him go, what a move...he's passed the palm tree, he's beyond the elephant grass-what a head fake-he's almost...oh, no he's down by the thorn bushes - felled, tackled probably for the last time by the lions no, wait he's broken a tackle, they had him - here he comes... oh my gosh - wow, unbelievable, he's back up here with us in the bleechers or rather branches...score one for the Buckaneers or Baboons from Tampa!'
Then from the bleechers we over time wore off our tails talking, rapping about our reality and it became history. We became conceptual creatures who also believe their own act, no choice. It's hard to say what's act and what isn't...and even those who can say pretty well - aren't listened to. We've come a long way beyond tails, and tales. But we still aren't so smart yet as to learn mostly from history...more from pain, sadly - or the pain of others less well positioned, sadly as well. My family doesn't listen...even given all the times i was right (and they benefited.) Their answer is - it's too painful not to be right ourselves, so let's forget him. They're still out of kilter yet attempting to make it so. ? It's How it yet is. Even they wouldn't deny it. People gotta do what they gotta do, apparently. ?
I guess it's the ecstasy of living one's own truth...even if it's false or illusion mostly. That's freedom. If God allows it...who am I to say no. Amen. That's history too, for better and worse. Long as people at least take responsibility for themselves! They are maturing a bit. They don't blame me, and I don't attempt to corral them. Teach us to care and not to care - ok - I don't care. Life. It's all one coin heads or tails. Whichever side you turn to face Up, shows good taste.
I had read a review of the current movie entitled Beowulf and was and still am contemplating seeing it. I was considering whether or not to even discuss the movie with my students since it apparently contains some extreme violence, some horrific monster characters and some very steamy scenes. I knew that I would not recommend that they see the movie, given those elements.
However, upon my arrival at school, a sixteen-year-old student excitedly informed me that she had seen the movie. She confirmed that the movie was full of violence, horrific monsters and steamy scences; however, she then said that the message of the movie was compelling to her. Before I could ask, she told me. She said that it was about a man, Beowulf (She knowns nothing about the Old English story, from which, of course, the movie departs.), who could have done the right thing - kill Grendel's mother - but who does the wrong thing and has a child by her and then lies about it and creates a myth about himself based on that lie. She also noticed the subtle counter theme in the movie - the Christian who goes about building a Christian community right through the horrific happenings and the myth building based on a lie which itself covers a horrific act.
After listening to my student, I decided that there is come hope after all. There are those, even sixteen-year-old kids from the uplands of Louisiana, who not only see but understand. The story told as great lore is not necessarily true; and there may be a truer story running deep and undetered beneath the eye-catching froth of the surface. Lincoln, Roosevelt (both) and Kennedy come to mind - our "beloved" Beowulfs, of whom it is claimed that they slew great monsters but who in fact consorted with those very monsters and thereby produced an evil which is yet to fully reveal its destructive nature to us and visit it upon us.
A wonderful post. Where can I go to print out all parts of "What Is History" at one time?
Mr. Ward, thanks. The series has still more awaiting publication.
How about this imaginary but realistic quote, which could spew like sewage from the mouth of any average Marxist pseudo-historian:
'History is what I say it is, never mind the facts. What are facts anyway? There is no truth, after all, only perspectives, but mine is the only one that counts, because I say so. History is dark, depressing, and evil, full of faschist white christian capitalist oppressors and long suffering feminine, dark skinned, homosexual, cross dressing, abortionist, environmentalist, vegan, pornographic liberator heroes. Your ancestors were evil and you should be ashamed of yourselves for who and what you are. Now go, betray your own and sell out to those who would destroy you.'