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Geoffrey Blainey on History

born 1930 Australia

← All quotes by Geoffrey Blainey

2 quotes

The essence of studying history is that, as best we can, we try to wear the shoes and put on the spectacles worn by people of the past. We try to see the obstacles and dilemmas they struggled against or evaded. We also hope that the future will try to understand why we made blunders, and learn from failures and achievements of our era.

If we disown history we are at its mercy. To have a reasonable knowledge of the past is to possess an anchor which is likely to prevent us from being swept towards false ideas about the present and future.

The Great Seesaw: A New View of the Western World, 1750-2000 (1988)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Geoffrey Blainey (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.