An apology offered and, equally important, received is a step towards reconciliation and, sometimes, recompense. Without that process, hurts can rankle and fester and erupt into their own hatreds and wrongdoings.
Margaret MacmillanRead
Use it, enjoy it, but always handle history with care.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Approach history with appreciation and caution, recognizing its significance.
Margaret Macmillan emphasizes the importance of studying and enjoying history while being mindful of its complexities and the lessons it imparts. History is a powerful tool that can shape our understanding of the present and future, but it must be treated with respect and care to avoid repeating past mistakes.
Themes
HistoryCareUnderstandingAppreciationLessons
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social responsibility, one could say, 'Use it, enjoy it, but always handle history with care, as it teaches us valuable lessons.'
More from Margaret Macmillan
All quotes βClimate change respects no borders.
Margaret MacmillanRead
War is a crucial, deeply ingrained part of human history. It has to be understood.
Margaret MacmillanRead
There was that argument that if we had more women in positions of authority, the world would be a nicer place. And then we got Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Indira Gandhi. When women become acclimatised to war, they can become every bit as ruthless as men.
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Theodore Roosevelt's policy to build a two-ocean navy confirmed that the old-style isolationism of the founders had not survived the modern, increasingly globalized world.
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If we don't take responsibility for each other, it seems to me the future is going to be even bleaker.
Margaret MacmillanRead
Similar quotes
Oftentimes, a history book in school will talk about the Underground Railroad as if it's one sentence. But thousands of people decided to run, and they single-handedly changed the trajectory of our nation. By running to the North, they put a face to slavery, which recruited a lot of abolitionists.
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History never really says goodbye. History says, 'See you later.'
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Well into the 20th century, black people spoke of their flight from Mississippi in much the same manner as their runagate ancestors had.
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He was what I often think is a dangerous thing for a statesman to be - a student of history; and like most of those who study history, he learned from the mistakes of the past how to make new ones.
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The great theme of modern British history is the fate of freedom. The 18th century inherits, after the Civil War, this very peculiar political animal. It's not a democracy, but it's not a tyranny. It's not like the rest of the world, the rest of Europe. There is a parliament, laws have to be made, elections are made.
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It is one of the ironies of this strange century that the most lasting results of the October revolution, whose object was the global overthrow of capitalism, was to save its antagonist, both in war and in peace - that is to say, by providing it with the incentive, fear, to reform itself after the Second World War, and, by establishing the popularity of economic planning, furnishing it with some of the procedures for its reform
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