QuoteProject
Intellectual honesty is the quality that the public in free countries always has expected of historians; much more than that it does not expect, nor often get.
Samuel Eliot Morison
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Intellectual honesty is crucial for historians in free societies, but it is often not fully achieved.

In a free society, historians are expected to exhibit intellectual honesty, meaning they should present facts and truths without bias or deception. However, Morison suggests that while this expectation is prevalent, the fulfillment of such honesty is rare, highlighting a gap between public expectation and actual practice in historical scholarship.

Themes

Intellectual HonestyHistoryTruthPublic ExpectationBias

In practice

Example use cases

In a lecture about the importance of ethics in historical writing.

More from Samuel Eliot Morison

But sea power has never led to despotism. The nations that have enjoyed sea power even for a brief period-Athens, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, England, the United States-are those that have preserved freedom for themselves and have given it to others. Of the despotism to which unrestrained military power leads we have plenty of examples from Alexander to Mao.
Samuel Eliot MorisonRead
The freedmen were not really free in 1865, nor are most of their descendants really free in 1965. Slavery was but one aspect of a race and color problem that is still far from solution here, or anywhere. In America particularly, the grapes of wrath have not yet yielded all their bitter vintage.
Samuel Eliot MorisonRead
So I have cultivated the vast garden of human experience which is history, without troubling myself overmuch about laws, essential first causes, or how it is all coming out.
Samuel Eliot MorisonRead
No big modern war has been won without preponderant sea power; and, conversely, very few rebellions of maritime provinces have succeeded without acquiring sea power.
Samuel Eliot MorisonRead
Dream dreams and write them aye, but live them first.
Samuel Eliot MorisonRead
A tough but nervous, tenacious but restless race [the Yankees]; materially ambitious, yet prone to introspection, and subject to waves of religious emotion. . . . A race whose typical member is eternally torn between a passion for righteousness and a desire to get on in the world.
Samuel Eliot MorisonRead

Similar quotes

I hear no one boast, that he hath a knowledge of the Scriptures, but that he owneth a Bible written in golden characters. And tell me then, what profiteth this? The Holy Scriptures were not given to us that we should enclose them in books, but that we should engrave them upon our hearts.
Saint John ChrysostomRead
Great is our admiration of the orator who speaks with fluency and discretion.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
If you yearn for holy felicity, _x000D_ shed your arrogance and Become A Seeker Of Hearts.
RumiRead
The greatest remedy that is used against a plan of the enemy is to do voluntarily what he plans that you do by force.
Niccolo MachiavelliRead
With six weeks' worth of recuperation time, you'll also be able to see any glaring holes in the plot or character development. And listen--if you spot a few of these big holes, you are forbidden to feel depressed about them or to beat up on yourself. Screw-ups happen to the best of us.
Stephen KingRead
Shall I tell you the secret of the true scholar? It is this: every man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Samuel Eliot Morison | QuoteProject