Dictators fall when they're overconfident; they stay in power when they're paranoid.
Masha GessenRead
We learn to think of history as something that has already happened, to other people. Our own moment, filled as it is with minutiae destined to be forgotten, always looks smaller in comparison.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on how we perceive history as something that belongs to others while discounting the significance of our present experiences.
Masha Gessen's quote invites us to consider the nature of history and how we relate to it. It suggests that we often view historical events as distant and monumental, belonging to other people, while our current experiences, filled with trivial details, seem insignificant in comparison. This perspective can lead us to underestimate the importance of our own lives and the moments we are currently living, reminding us that what feels small now may hold greater value in the broader scope of time.
Themes
HistoryPerceptionPresentSignificanceExperience
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on the importance of understanding historical context in current events.
More from Masha Gessen
All quotes →When you lose your freedom, you lose, first and foremost, the opportunity to choose the company you keep.
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There's the hypothesis that things just keep happening to Russians, things that keep turning them into the same kind of subjects, as opposed to citizens. The more credible hypothesis, I think, is that there is a kind of trauma, a social trauma that is passed on from generation to generation.
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Russia, at the start of the 21st century, at least in its larger cities, very much resembled the United States of the early 1990s: being gay was no longer criminal or shameful, but it was still not a topic for polite conversation or public discussion.
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... fighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we are going to do with marriage when we get there-because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change, and that is a lie. The institution of marriage is going to change, and it should change. And again, I don't think it should exist.
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Any country is either becoming more democratic or less democratic. I think the United States hasn't tended to its journey toward democracy in a long time.
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