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Quotes from The Great Seesaw: A New View of the Western World, 1750-2000 — Geoffrey Blainey

born 1930 Australia

← All quotes by Geoffrey Blainey

4 quotes

Democracy is a freak condition in the world's history: civil liberties are not common liberties even today, and most people in the world have never possessed them.

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

The slow decline of Christianity prepared the way for new Utopias and doomsdays. Indeed some of the new views of the future contained many of the characteristics of a religion.

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

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)

One lesson of history is that every gain has its potential loss. The highest human achievements carry the danger of pride, and pride can lead blindly to disaster, just as failure can fortify the determination and so lead slowly towards triumph.

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.