The best use of history is as an inoculation against radical expectations, and hence against embittering disappointments.
Interpretation
History teaches us to temper our expectations to avoid disappointment.
George Will's quote emphasizes the importance of learning from history in order to set realistic expectations for the future. By understanding past events and outcomes, individuals can avoid the pitfalls of radical expectations that can lead to disappointment and frustration when reality does not meet those expectations.
In practice
During a lecture on the importance of context in decision-making, one might use this quote to highlight the relevance of historical analysis.
The problem with intelligent-design theory, is not that it is false but that it is not falsifiable. Not being susceptible to contradicting evidence, it is not a testable hypothesis. Hence it is not a scientific but a creedal tenet - a matter of faith, unsuited to a public school's science curriculum.
The cultivation - even celebration - of victimhood by intellectuals, tort lawyers, politicians and the media is both cause and effect of today's culture of complaint.
Correct thinkers think that 'baseball trivia' is an oxymoron: nothing about baseball is trivial.
Constitutional arguments that seem as dry as dust can have momentous consequences.
The civil forfeiture law - if something so devoid of due process can be dignified as law - is an incentive for perverse behavior: Predatory government agencies get to pocket the proceeds from property they seize from Americans without even charging them with, let alone convicting them of, crimes. Criminals are treated better than this because they lose the fruits of their criminality only after being convicted.
Actually, there is only one first question of government, and it is How should we live? or What kind of people do we want our citizens to be?
The human body is a steed that goes freest and longest under a light rider, and the lightest of all riders is a cheerful heart.
So, thatβs what they wanted: lies. Beautiful lies. Thatβs what they needed. People were fools. It was going to be easy for me.
I am amazed at the seeker of purity _x000D_ When time for polishing comes _x000D_ Complaints of harsh treatment _x000D_ Love is a lawsuit _x000D_ Without evidence, you will not win _x000D_ My son, when one beats the rug The beating is not intended against the rug _x000D_ But against the dust inside the rug _x000D_ My son, that harsh treatment _x000D_ Is not intended against you _x000D_ But against the ill qualities inside you
Real excellence and humility are not incompatible one with the other, on the contrary they are twin sisters.
Whoever doesn't flare up at someone who's angry wins a battle hard to win.
There is not a woman in the world the possession of whom is as precious as that of the truths which she reveals to us by causing us to suffer.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.