The unspoken contract between ruler and subject is that in return for safety, prosperity, and prestige, the Russians entrust power and cede democratic freedoms to their leaders.
Simon Sebag-MontefioreRead
It's the mix of the trivial and the great events that make up history. It's the low things about high people that make it fascinating, and that's why it would be a shame to exclude the trivial things. That mixing up is not just at the heart of history. It's at the heart of how to live a great life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
History and life are shaped by a blend of significant and everyday moments.
This quote emphasizes the importance of both monumental and mundane experiences in shaping history and our lives. Simon Sebag-Montefiore suggests that the interplay between the trivial aspects of life and the notable events enriches our understanding of history and contributes to a meaningful existence, encouraging us to appreciate the fullness of our experiences.
Themes
HistoryLifeTrivialGreatnessExperience
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of history in education, this quote could illustrate how every moment matters.
More from Simon Sebag-Montefiore
All quotes →The vanishing of David Tang is like the unthinkable diappearance of a magnificent palace on a mythical mountaintop. He was a dreammaker, pianist, adventurer, writer, entrepreneur, scholar, connoisseur, and a great friend.
Simon Sebag-MontefioreRead
The political lives of tyrants play out human affairs with a special intensity: the death of a democratic leader long after his retirement is a private matter, but the death of a tyrant is always a political act that reflects the character of his power.
Simon Sebag-MontefioreRead
Under Stalin, artists weren't dissidents; all they hoped was to survive and write.
Simon Sebag-MontefioreRead
The disorder, uncertainty, and strife of a revolution make citizens yearn for stable authority, or they turn to radicalism.
Simon Sebag-MontefioreRead
A revolution resembles the death of a fading star, an exhilarating Technicolor explosion that gives way not to an ordered new galaxy but to a nebula, a formless cloud of shifting energy.
Simon Sebag-MontefioreRead
Similar quotes
Loyalty to the Nation all the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it.
Mark TwainRead
By raising Christ from death, God as the supreme Judge set his seal to the absolute perfection and completeness of his atoning work. The resurrection is a public announcement to the world that the penalty of death has been borne by Christ to its bitter end and that in consequence the dominion of guilt has been broken, the curse annihilated forever more.
Geerhardus VosRead
There are two kinds of taste, the taste for emotions of surprise and the taste for emotions of recognition.
Henry JamesRead
I really don't want to portray the Islamists as simply evil, the way it's often done in the west.
Orhan PamukRead
My favorite: Spirituality is a domain of awareness.
Deepak ChopraRead
Silence emerges from the sound of rain and spreads in a crescendo of gray monotony over the narrow street I contemplate. I’m sleeping while awake, standing by the window, leaning against it as against everything. I search in myself for the sensations I feel before these falling threads of darkly luminous water that stand out from the grimy building facades and especially from the open windows. And I don’t know what I feel or what I want to feel. I don’t know what to think or where I am.
Fernando PessoaRead