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It would be well if, in studying the past, we could always bear in mind the problems of the present, and go to that past to seek large views of what is of lasting importance to the human race.

— Arnold Toynbee Lectures on The Industrial Revolution in England (1884)

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More quotes by Arnold Toynbee

To a reluctant admission of the necessity for State action, we join a burning belief in duty, and a deep spiritual ideal of life.

Lectures on The Industrial Revolution in England (1884)

The right method in any particular case must be largely determined by the nature of the problem.

Lectures on The Industrial Revolution in England (1884)

It is a great law of social development that the movement from slavery to freedom is also a movement from security to insecurity of maintenance.

Lectures on The Industrial Revolution in England (1884)

Party historians go to the past for party purposes; they seek to read into the past the controversies of the present.

Lectures on The Industrial Revolution in England (1884)

To the capitalists we appeal to use their wealth, as many of their order already do, as a great national trust, and not for selfish purposes alone.

Lectures on The Industrial Revolution in England (1884)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Arnold Toynbee (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.