---
title: "1 Recorded Past Quotes By Michael Joseph Oakeshott"
description: "1 Recorded Past quotes by Michael Joseph Oakeshott. Plus more from Michael Joseph Oakeshott and more Recorded Past sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aea/michael-joseph-oakeshott-25415_footprint_a-recorded-past-is-no-more-than-a-bygone_640466.png"
---

> [A recorded past is no more than a bygone present composed of the footprints made by human beings actually going somewhere but not knowing (in any extended sense), and certainly not revealing to us, how, they came to be afoot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/a-recorded-past-is-no-more-than-a-bygone-present-composed-of-the/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aea/michael-joseph-oakeshott-25415_footprint_a-recorded-past-is-no-more-than-a-bygone_640466.png)

## More by Michael Joseph Oakeshott

> [In political activity, then, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea; there is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place nor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/in-political-activity-then-men-sail-a-boundless-and-bottomless-sea/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [Education is ... the invitation to disentangle oneself, for a time, from the urgencies of the here and now and to listen to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/education-is-the-invitation-to-disentangle-oneself-for-a-time-from/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [It is certain that most who concentrate upon achievement miss life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/it-is-certain-that-most-who-concentrate-upon-achievement-miss-life/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [A recorded past is no more than a bygone present composed of the footprints made by human beings actually going somewhere but not knowing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/a-recorded-past-is-no-more-than-a-bygone-present-composed-of-the/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [To be conservative…is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/to-be-conservative-is-to-prefer-the-familiar-to-the-unknown-to-prefer/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [The man of conservative temperament believes that a known good is not lightly to be surrendered for an unknown better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/the-man-of-conservative-temperament-believes-that-a-known-good-is-not/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [The rule of law bakes no bread, it is unable to distribute loaves or fishes (it has none), and it cannot protect itself against…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/the-rule-of-law-bakes-no-bread-it-is-unable-to-distribute-loaves-or/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [The conjunction of ruling and dreaming generates tyranny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/the-conjunction-of-ruling-and-dreaming-generates-tyranny/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [This, I believe, is the appropriate image of human intercourse -- appropriate because it recognizes the qualities, the diversities, and the proper relationships of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/this-i-believe-is-the-appropriate-image-of-human-intercourse/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [Our predicament is not the difficulty of attaining happiness, but the difficult of avoiding the misery to which the pursuit of happiness exposes us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/our-predicament-is-not-the-difficulty-of-attaining-happiness-but-the/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [History is what the evidence compels us to believe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/history-is-what-the-evidence-compels-us-to-believe/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [Politics I take to be the activity of attending to the general arrangements of a set of people whom chance or choice have brought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/politics-i-take-to-be-the-activity-of-attending-to-the-general/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [Economics is not an attempt to generalize human desires or human behavior; but to generalize the phenomena of price.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/economics-is-not-an-attempt-to-generalize-human-desires-or-human/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [We consider ourselves to be free because no one in our society is allowed unlimited powerno leader, faction, party or 'class', no majority, no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/we-consider-ourselves-to-be-free-because-no-one-in-our-society-is/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [Like Midas, the Rationalist is always in the unfortunate position of not being able to touch anything, without transforming it into an abstraction; he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/like-midas-the-rationalist-is-always-in-the-unfortunate-position-of/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

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