FastSaying
History, at its best, always tells us as much indirectly about ourselves as it does directly about our predecessors, and it is often most revealing when it deals with episodes and phenomena that we find repulsive.
Edmund Morgan
About
Always
Best
Deals
Directly
Does
Episodes
Find
History
Indirectly
Most
Much
Often
Our
Ourselves
Phenomena
Predecessors
Repulsive
Revealing
Tells
Us
Related Quotes
In the adversity of our best friends we often find something that does not displease us.
— Brigham Young
Adversity
Best
Best Friends
Most historians don't much like generalizations. Indeed, they make a trade of showing that this or that generalization about the past will not work here or there or then.
— Edmund Morgan
About
Generalization
Generalizations
Few words in any language carry such a load of meaning as 'honor.' It is an old word, unchanged even in its spelling from classical Latin to modern English. Spoken or written, it does not seem to require much explanation; most people think they know what it means.
— Edmund Morgan
Any
Carry
Classical
The difference between eccentricity and originality in historical studies is often difficult to detect at first encounter. When a radically new interpretation of a large segment of history makes its appearance, time is needed to sift the evidence.
— Edmund Morgan
Appearance
Between
Detect
The men who founded and governed Massachusetts and Connecticut took themselves so seriously that they kept track of everything they did for the benefit of posterity and hoarded their papers so carefully that the whole history of the United States, recounted mainly by their descendants, has often appeared to be the history of New England writ large.
— Edmund Morgan
Appeared
Benefit
Carefully