Home > Author > Edward Hallett Carr
1 " History is the long struggle of man, by exercise of his reason, to understand his environment and to act upon it. But the modern period has broadened the struggle in a revolutionary way. Man now seeks to understand, and act on, not only his environment, but himself; and this has added, so to speak, a new dimension to reason and a new dimension to history. "
― Edward Hallett Carr , What Is History?
2 " Study the historian before you begin to study the facts. "
3 " Progress in human affairs, whether in science or in history or in society, has come mainly through the bold readiness of human beings not to confine themselves to seeking piecemeal improvements in the way things are done, but to present fundamental challenges in the name of reason to the current way of doing things and to the avowed or hidden assumptions on which it rests "
4 " Good historians...have the future in their bones "
5 " If we can widen the range of experiences beyond what we as individuals have encountered, if we can draw upon the experiences of others who've had to confront comparable situations in the past, then - although there are no guarantees - our chances of acting wisely should increase proportionately. "
― Edward Hallett Carr
6 " Man’s capacity to rise above his social and historical situation seems to be conditioned by the sensitivity with which he recognizes the extent of his involvement in it. "
7 " Biologically and economically, the doctrine of the harmony of interests was only tenable if you left out of account the interest of the weak who must be driven to the wall, or called in the next world to redress the balance of the present. "
― Edward Hallett Carr , The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1919-1939: An Introduction to the Study of International Relations
8 " [...] the real importance of the Darwinian revolution was that Darwin, completing what Lyell had already begun in geology, brought history into science. "
9 " I am reminded of Housman's remark that 'accuracy is a duty, not a virtue.' To praise a historian for his accuracy is like praising an architect for using well-seasoned timber or properly mixed concrete in his building. It is a necessary condition of his work, but not his essential function. "
10 " The desire to postulate individual genius as the creative force in history is characteristic of the primitive stages of historical consciousness. "
11 " History consists of a corpus ascertained facts. The facts are available to the historian in documents, inscriptions and so on, like fish in the fishmonger's slab. The historian collects them, takes them home, and cooks and serves them in whatever style appeals to him. "
12 " The historian without his facts is rootless and futile; the facts without their historian are dead and meaningless. "
13 " Immature thought is predominately purposive and utopian. Thought which rejects purpose altogether is the thought of old age. Mature thought combines purpose with observation and analysis. "
14 " We view the past, and achieve our understanding of the past, only through the eyes of the present "
15 " It used to be said that facts speak for themselves. This is, of course, untrue. The facts speak only when the historian calls on them: it is he who decides to which facts to give the floor, and in what order or context. "
16 " What is history? ... it is a continuous process of interaction between the historian and his facts, an unending dialogue between the present and the past. "
17 " Amikor - és ez igen közkedvelt - úgy állítják be, mintha az egyén lázadna a társadalom ellen, a társadalom és az egyén közötti téves antitézist melegítik fel. Teljesen homogén társadalom nem létezik. A társadalom szociális konfliktusok küzdőtere, és azok az egyének, akik szembeszegülnek az adott hatalommal, legalább annyira a társadalom termékei és tükörképei, mint azok, akik fenntartják az adott társadalmat. "
18 " The facts are really not at all like fish on the fishmonger’s slab. They are like fish swimming about in a vast and sometimes inaccessible ocean; and what the historian catches will depend, partly on chance, but mainly on what part of the ocean he chooses to fish in and what tackle he chooses to use – these two factors being, of course, determined by the kind of fish he wants to catch. By and large, the historian will get the kind of facts he wants. "
19 " Aprender acerca del presente a la luz del pasado quiere también decir aprender del pasado a la luz del presente. La función de la historia es la de estimular una mas profunda comprensión tanto del pasado como del presente por su comparación recíproca. "
20 " What is history?, our answer, consciously or unconsciously, reflects our own position in time, and forms part of our answer to the broader question, what view we take of the society in which we live. "
