If we trace the history of any nation backwards into the past, we come at last to a period of myths and traditions which eventually fade away into impenetrable darkness.
Interpretation
Nations are built over time through myths and traditions that can become lost or forgotten.
This quote by Bal Gangadhar Tilak reflects on the origins of nations, suggesting that as we delve into their history, we encounter a time when cultural myths and traditions played a crucial role in shaping their identity. However, as we go further back in time, these narratives become less clear and eventually disappear into obscurity, highlighting the transient nature of history and cultural memory.
In practice
During a speech on cultural identity, one might quote Tilak to emphasize the importance of understanding historical roots.
The most practical teaching of the Gita, and one for which it is of abiding interest and value to the men of the world with whom life is a series of struggles, is not to give way to any morbid sentimentality when duty demands sternness and the boldness to face terrible things.
Religion and practical life are not different. To take sanyas (renunciation) is not to abandon life. The real spirit is to make the country, your family, work together instead of working only for your own. The step beyond is to serve humanity and the next step is to serve God.
It is true that not all the victims were Jews, but all the Jews were victims
The Chinamen built the railroad, the Indians saved the Pilgrim,_x000D_ _x000D_ And in return, the Pilgrim killed 'em._x000D_ _x000D_ They call it it Thanksgiving, I call your holiday 'hell-day.'
The slightest acquaintance with history shows that powerful republics are the most warlike and unscrupulous of nations.
Sixty years after the end of the war, the time has come to make this information available. With the number of survivors and witnesses diminishing by the day, and the reality that the Holocaust is fading into the pages of history and memory, we should not have to wait any longer.
The Germans could not get over the perfidy of it. It was unbelievable that the English, having degenerated to the stage where suffragettes heckled the Prime Minister and defied the police, were going to fight.
The colonial period has been the proving ground in America for the new social history, which concentrates on the ordinary doings of ordinary people rather than on high culture and high politics. Unfortunately ordinary people, almost by definition, leave behind only faint traces of their existence.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.