The most promising words ever written on the maps of human knowledge are terra incognita, unknown territory.
Daniel J. BoorstinRead
History had been man's effort to accomodate himself to what he could not do. Amereican history in the 20th century would, more than ever before, test man's ability to accomodate himself to all the new things he could do.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the challenges humanity faces in adapting to rapid changes and advancements in capabilities over time.
Daniel J. Boorstin's quote reflects the dual nature of history: the struggle to accept limitations and the ongoing test of adapting to newfound possibilities. In the 20th century, the pace of innovation and change presented unprecedented opportunities and challenges for humanity, demanding resilience and adaptability as people confronted what they could achieve.
In practice
Using this quote in a lecture about the impact of technology on society.
The most promising words ever written on the maps of human knowledge are terra incognita, unknown territory.
Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.
Human models are more vivid and more persuasive than explicit moral commands.
Knowledge is not simply another commodity. On the contrary. Knowledge is never used up. It increases by diffusion and grows by dispersion.
We need not be theologians to see that we have shifted responsibility for making the world interesting from God to the newspaperman.
There was a time when the reader of an unexciting newspaper would remark, 'How dull is the world today!' Nowadays he says, 'What a dull newspaper!'
Human blunders usually do more to shape history than human wickedness.
When people talk as if the Crusades were nothing more than an aggressive raid against Islam, they seem to forget in the strangest way that Islam itself was only an aggressive raid against the old and ordered civilization in these parts. I do not say it in mere hostility to the religion of Mahomet; I am fully conscious of many values and virtues in it; but certainly it was Islam that was the invasion and Christendom that was the thing invaded.
Like the attack on Pearl Harbor, another hinge event in American history, 9/11 was a great tactical victory for America's enemies. But in both these cases, the tactical success of the attacks was not matched by strategic victories. Quite the reverse.
The acceptance of the facts of African-American history and the African-American historian as a legitimate part of the academic community did not come easily. Slavery ended and left its false images of black people intact.
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
The source known as Deep Throat provided a kind of road map through the scandal. His one consistent message was that the Watergate burglary was just the tip of the iceberg.
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