I wonder how the foreign policies of the United States would look if we wiped out the national boundaries of the world, at least in our minds, and thought of all children everywhere as our own.
Howard ZinnRead
If you don't know history, it is as if you were born yesterday.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding history is essential for making informed decisions in the present.
This quote emphasizes the importance of historical knowledge in shaping our understanding of the world. Without awareness of the past, individuals risk repeating mistakes and lack the perspective needed to navigate current challenges effectively, akin to starting life with no prior experience or understanding.
Themes
HistoryKnowledgePresentUnderstandingEducation
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on the importance of civic engagement, I referenced Howard Zinnβs quote about history.
More from Howard Zinn
All quotes βHistory can come in handy. If you were born yesterday, with no knowledge of the past, you might easily accept whatever the government tells you. But knowing a bit of history--while it would not absolutely prove the government was lying in a given instance--might make you skeptical, lead you to ask questions, make it more likely that you would find out the truth.
Howard ZinnRead
Objectivity is impossible and it is also undesirable. That is, if it were possible it would be undesirable, because if you have any kind of a social aim, if you think history should serve society in some way; should serve the progress of the human race; should serve justice in some way, then it requires that you make your selection on the basis of what you think will advance causes of humanity.
Howard ZinnRead
The historian's distortion is more than technical, it is ideological; it is released into a world of contending interest, where any chosen emphasis supports some kind of interest, whether economic or political or racial, or national or sexual.
Howard ZinnRead
Americans have been taught that their nation is civilized and humane. But, too often, U.S. actions have been uncivilized and inhumane.
Howard ZinnRead
The challenge remains. On the other side are formidable forces: money, political power, the major media. On our side are the people of the world and a power greater than money or weapons: the truth.
Howard ZinnRead
Similar quotes
To starve a child of the spell of the story, of the canter of the poem, oral or written, is a kind of living burial. It is to immure him in emptiness.
George SteinerRead
Law without education is a dead letter. With education the needed law follows without effort and, of course, with power to execute itself; indeed, it seems to execute itself.
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My elder brothers were all put apprentices to different trades. I was put to the grammar-school at eight years of age, my father intending to devote me, as the tithe of his sons, to the service of the Church.
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What you have been taught by listening to others' words you will forget very quickly; what you have learned with your whole body you will remember for the rest of your life.
Gichin FunakoshiRead
I read an hour almost every night. It's part of falling asleep.
Bill GatesRead
I enjoy popularisation and I think I'm reasonably good at it. I also think it's a duty. It's just so pedagogically stupid to forget how difficult one found these ideas oneself to begin with.
Terry EagletonRead