A man ceases to be a beginner in any given science and becomes a master in that science when he has learned that... he is going to be a beginner all his life.
Robin G. CollingwoodRead
History is for human self-knowledge. Knowing yourself means knowing, first, what it is to be a person; secondly, knowing what it is to be the kind of person you are; and thirdly, knowing what it is to be the person you are and nobody else is. Knowing yourself means knowing what you can do; and since nobody knows what they can do until they try, the only clue to what man can do is what man has done. The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding history helps us understand ourselves and our potential as individuals.
This quote emphasizes the significance of history in aiding self-awareness and personal growth. By exploring what humanity has accomplished in the past, individuals can gain insights into their own identity, capabilities, and the essence of being a person. Collingwood argues that history serves as a mirror through which we can reflect on our own lives and understand not just who we are, but who we can become based on the actions and experiences of those who came before us.
Themes
HistorySelf-KnowledgeIdentitySelf-DiscoveryHumanity
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational talk about personal growth and understanding one's potential.
More from Robin G. Collingwood
All quotes →To the scientist, nature is always and merely a 'phenomenon,' not in the sense of being defective in reality, but in the sense of being a spectacle presented to his intelligent observation; whereas the events of history are never mere phenomena, never mere spectacles for contemplation, but things which the historian looks, not at, but through, to discern the thought within them.
Robin G. CollingwoodRead
Similar quotes
Abolitionists believe that, as all men are born free, so all who are now held as slaves in this country were born free, and that they are slaves now is the sin, not of those who introduced the race into this country, but of those, and those alone, who now hold them and have held them in slavery from their birth.
Elijah Parish LovejoyRead
The way you cut your meat reflects the way you live.
ConfuciusRead
He who looks sinward has his back to God-he who looks Godward has his back to sin.
Charles SpurgeonRead
When you become an instrument in God's hands as He transfers someone from the realm of darkness into the kingdom of His Son, you make a difference in the person's eternal destiny. Not only that, but Satan also receives a devastating blow.
Charles StanleyRead
All you really need to know for the moment is that the universe is a lot more complicated than you might think, even if you start from a position of thinking it's pretty damn complicated in the first place.
Douglas AdamsRead
I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I'm gone which would not have happened if I had not come.
Salman RushdieRead