It has been said that the historian is the avenger, and that standing as a judge between the parties and rivalries and causes of bygone generations he can lift up the fallen and beat down the proud, and by his… — Herbert Butterfield Copy Share Image
“While there is battle and hatred men have eyes for nothing save the fact that the enemy is the cause of all the troubles; but long, long afterwards, when all passion has been spent, the historian often sees that it was a conflict between one half-right that was perhaps too proud; and behind even this he discerns that it was… — Herbert Butterfield Copy Share
The academic mind can eat away the very basis of its own assurance ... produce contortions when it tries to bend over backward ...… — Herbert Butterfield Copy Share Image
Very strange bridges are used to make the passage from one state of things to another; we may lose sight of them in our… — Herbert Butterfield Copy Share Image
But the greatest menace to our civilization today is the conflict between giant organized systems of self-righteousness - each system only too delighted to… — Herbert Butterfield Copy Share Image
“History is not the study of origins; rather it is the analysis of all the mediations by which the past was turned into our… — Herbert Butterfield Copy Share Image
In the last resort, sheer insight is the greatest asset of all. — Herbert Butterfield Copy Share Image
The study of the past with one eye, so to speak, upon the present is the source of all sins and sophistries in history… — Herbert Butterfield Copy Share Image
“The raconteur knows too well that, if he investigates the truth of the matter, he is only too likely to lose his good story.” — Herbert Butterfield Copy Share Image
Those people work more wisely who seek to achieve good in their own small corner of the world ... than those who are forever… — Herbert Butterfield Copy Share Image
The study of the past with one eye upon the present is the source of all sins and sophistries in history. It is the… — Herbert Butterfield Copy Share Image
About the scientific revolution: it "outshines everything since the rise of Christianity and reduces the Renaissance and Reformation to the rank of mere episodes". — Herbert Butterfield Copy Share Image
It has been said that the historian is the avenger, and that standing as a judge between the parties and rivalries and causes of… — Herbert Butterfield Copy Share Image
