Historical Thinking Quotes

To think historically is almost the same thing now as if in all ages history had been made according to theory.

The most difficult problem in personal knowledge, whether of oneself or of others, is the problem of guessing when to think as a historian and when to think as an anthropologist.

I'm interested in history, in trying to relate the past to the present and to understand how people thought about their problems and pleasures.

Far better to think historically, to remember the lessons of the past. Thus, far better to conceive of power as consisting in part of the knowledge of when not to use all the power you have. Far better to be one who knows that if you reserve the power not to use all your power, you will lead others far more successfully and well.

I'm a historian in my own mind.

Our goal is to see Big History become a normal part of high school curricula. I'd love to see it being taught in lots of languages. A global course.

History is the default methodology for thinking through the world for most people.

Nothing is easier than to teach historical method, but, when learned, it has little use.

I do myself think that history is a set of skills rather than a narrative.

When you tell people you're in history, they give you this pained expression because that was the course they hated in high school. But history can be exciting, intellectually rigorous, and fun.

It is safest to grasp the concept of the postmodern as an attempt to think the present historically in an age that has forgotten how to think historically in the first place.