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Our understanding of the thought of the past is liable to be the more adequate, the less the historian is convinced of the superiority of his own point of view, or the more he is prepared to admit the possibility that he may have to learn something, not merely about the thinkers of the past, but from them.

— Leo Strauss What is Political Philosophy (1959)

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More quotes by Leo Strauss

The problem inherent in the surface of things, and only in the surface of things, is the heart of things.

Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958)

The silence of a wise man is always meaningful.

Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958)

It is of the essence of traditions that they cover or conceal their humble foundations by erecting impressive edifices on them.

Natural Right and History (1953)

It is as absurd to expect members of philosophy departments to be philosophers as it is to expect members of art departments to be artists.

Liberalism: Ancient and Modern (1968)

Philosophizing means, then, to ascend from public dogma to essentially private knowledge.

Natural Right and History (1953)

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A generation which ignores history has no past —and no future.

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History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.

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If we don’t care about our past we can’t have very much hope for our future.

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I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past, — so good night!

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Attribution

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