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Communication always involves slippage, and intellectual discourse is particularly liable to being twisted since a recipient can only accommodate novelty by fitting it into a preexisting structure of ideas.

— William H. McNeill The Pursuit of Truth: A Historian's Memoir (2005)

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More quotes by William H. McNeill

The principle obstacle to human dominion over the rain forests is still the rich variety of parasites lying in wait for intruders.

Plagues and Peoples (1976)

The rise of Islam offers perhaps the most impressive example in world history of the power of words to alter human behavior in sudden, surprising ways.

Keeping Together in Time (1995)

Categories of understanding along with everything else alter as societies change.

Discrepancies among the Social Sciences (1981)

Social science is itself part of the social experience it seeks to interpret and explain.

Discrepancies among the Social Sciences (1981)

I do not insist that I am right: I merely think so.

Discrepancies among the Social Sciences (1981)

All William H. McNeill quotes →

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