--- title: "1 Teach Past Quotes By David Christian" description: "1 Teach Past quotes by David Christian. Plus more from David Christian and more Teach Past sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/299/david-christian-7861_history_trying-to-look-at-the-whole-of-the-past_856057.jpg" --- > [“Trying to look at the whole of the past is, it seems to me, like using a map of the world. No geographer would try to teach exclusively from street maps. Yet most historians teach about the past of particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/trying-to-look-at-the-whole-of-the-past-is-it-seems-to-me-like-using/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/299/david-christian-7861_history_trying-to-look-at-the-whole-of-the-past_856057.jpg) ## More by David Christian > [“It was possible to borrow British technology, and increasingly governments began to promote development. By the end of the nineteenth century, governments and large…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/it-was-possible-to-borrow-british-technology-and-increasingly/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [“the conquests of the Achaemenid and Hellenistic dynasties encouraged commercial and intellectual exchanges reaching from central Asia to India to the western Mediterranean. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/the-conquests-of-the-achaemenid-and-hellenistic-dynasties-encouraged/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [“So, as networks expand in size, their potential intellectual synergy increases much faster: “larger and denser populations equal faster technological advance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/so-as-networks-expand-in-size-their-potential-intellectual-synergy/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [“typical modern households live in urban environments where they earn incomes through some form of wage work and buy food produced by others. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/typical-modern-households-live-in-urban-environments-where-they-earn/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [“no complex, nonlinear system can be adequately described by dividing it up into subsystems or into various aspects, defined beforehand.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/no-complex-nonlinear-system-can-be-adequately-described-by-dividing/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [Every kid goes to school full of questions about meaning. You know, 'What's my place in the universe? What does it mean to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/every-kid-goes-to-school-full-of-questions-about-meaning-you-know/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [“Both animal and human slaves could be controlled best if kept economically and psychically dependent on their owners.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/both-animal-and-human-slaves-could-be-controlled-best-if-kept/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [“The modern world is ruled by larger and more impersonal forces, from faceless bureaucracies to abstractions such as “inflation,” or “the rule of law.”…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/the-modern-world-is-ruled-by-larger-and-more-impersonal-forces-from/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [“contain into new, durable configurations, which can handle huge energy flows without disintegrating. This, we will see, is the characteristic pattern of all such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/contain-into-new-durable-configurations-which-can-handle-huge-energy/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [We, as extremely complex creatures, desperately need to know this story of how the universe creates complexity and why complexity means vulnerability and fragility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/we-as-extremely-complex-creatures-desperately-need-to-know-this-story/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [If, in schools, we keep teaching that history is divided into American history and Chinese history and Russian history and Australian history, we're teaching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/if-in-schools-we-keep-teaching-that-history-is-divided-into-american/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [An egg is a beautiful, sophisticated thing that can create even more sophisticated things, such as chickens. And we know in our heart of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/an-egg-is-a-beautiful-sophisticated-thing-that-can-create-even-more/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [“Earth, for example, is made up of oxygen (almost 50 percent) and smaller amounts of iron (19 percent), silicon (14 percent), magnesium (12.5 percent),”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/earth-for-example-is-made-up-of-oxygen-almost-50-percent-and-smaller/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [“most of human history (chronologically speaking) has taken place in communities quite innocent of state power.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/most-of-human-history-chronologically-speaking-has-taken-place-in/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [“what we can see may constitute no more than 10 percent, and perhaps as little as 1 percent, of the matter in the universe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/what-we-can-see-may-constitute-no-more-than-10-percent-and-perhaps-as/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teach-past/david-christian/#itemlist", "name": "1 Teach Past Quotes By David Christian", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Trying to look at the whole of the past is, it seems to me, like using a map of the world. 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