Historians once assumed that when childhood mortality was high, people must not have loved their children very much; it would have been too painful. Research has since proved that assumption wrong.
Jill LeporeRead
Americans like to get rich fast. That this means we go broke fast, too, is something that we have become very good at forgetting. Our ignorance of history is matched only by our unfailing optimism; it's actually part of our optimism.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the American desire for quick wealth and the tendency to overlook the consequences of such pursuits.
Jill Lepore critiques the American cultural inclination toward rapid financial success, pointing out that while the pursuit of wealth is driven by optimism, it often leads to financial failure. This dichotomy highlights a collective forgetfulness about historical lessons of greed and loss, reinforcing a cycle where the pursuit of quick riches overshadows the wisdom gained from past experiences.
Themes
WealthOptimismHistoryConsequencesCulture
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on economic behavior in America, this quote can illustrate the risks of pursuing quick wealth.
More from Jill Lepore
All quotes →We have discharged one generation of debtors after another, but we do not find that their numbers lessen. We find only that we forget, when times are good, that times were ever bad.
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History is hereditary only in this way: we, all of us, inherit everything, and then we choose what to cherish, what to disavow, and what to do next, which is why it's worth trying to know where things come from.
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