Ignorance of history

Explore 4 quotes about Ignorance of history

At every step the natural light which illuminates their path grows dimmer and less secure; and that, in spite of all their efforts, they have as yet only discovered a small number of conflicting notions, on which the mind of man has been tossed about for thousands of years, without either laying a firmer grasp on truth, or finding novelty even in its errors.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Democracy in America

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Topic

Learning from the past Ignorance of history History The past Ignorance

Author

Alexis de Tocqueville

Source

Democracy in America

Genre

Political literature

Language

French

Time

1840 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. De La Democratie en Amerique [Democracy in America]. Vol. 2, London: Saunders and Otley, 1840, sect. 1, ch. 5.

Current Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II, translated by Henry Reeve. Bantam Classics, 2000, vol. 2, sect. 1, ch. 5.

To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child.

Cicero

More information about this quote

Topic

Ignorance of history History Ignorance

Author

Cicero

Source

Orator ad M. Brutum

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

46 BC 40s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Orator ad M. Brutum. c. 46 B. C., ch. 34, sect. 120.

People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.

Edmund Burke

Reflections on the Revolution in France

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Topic

Learning from the past Ignorance of history History

Author

Edmund Burke

Source

Reflections on the Revolution in France

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1790 1790s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. London: James Dodsley, 1790.

Current Citation

Burke, Edmund. "Reflections on the Revolution in France." The Portable Edmund Burke, edited by Isaac Kramnick. Penguin, 2009.

The failure to read good books both enfeebles the vision and strengthens our most fatal tendency-the belief that the here and now is all there is.

Allan Bloom

The Closing of the American Mind

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Topic

Ignorance of history Books

Author

Allan Bloom

Source

The Closing of the American Mind

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bloom, Allan. The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students. Simon & Schuster, 1987.