--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A nation does not create the historians…" description: "\"A nation does not create the historians it deserves; the historians are far more likely to create the nation.\" — C. V. Wedgwood" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/745/c-v-wedgwood-25710_deserve_a-nation-does-not-create-the-historians_1365767.jpg" --- # A nation does not create the historians it deserves; the… ![“A nation does not create the historians it deserves; the historians are far more likely to create the nation.” quote by C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/745/c-v-wedgwood-25710_deserve_a-nation-does-not-create-the-historians_1365767.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/745/c-v-wedgwood-25710_deserve_a-nation-does-not-create-the-historians_1365767.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/745/c-v-wedgwood-25710_deserve_a-nation-does-not-create-the-historians_1365767.jpg) > “A nation does not create the historians it deserves; the historians are far more likely to create the nation.” [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Historians shape national identity more than nations shape historians. **In simple terms:** Historians influence how a nation sees itself. Key Takeaway Recognize the power of narrative. Themes history identity nation-building Mood reflective critical Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - education curricula - media reporting - political discourse - public commemorations Key Concepts collective memory national narrative historical agency Questions to Reflect On - How do historians decide which stories to tell? - What responsibilities do they bear? A Different Perspective Historians may be constrained by political pressure. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Historians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historians/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Nations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nations/) ## Related quotes > [Historians have become far too precious. Their work has become ever more specialised and, as they steadily lose the context of their studies, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-starkey/historians-have-become-far-too-precious-their-work-has-become-ever/) [David Starkey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-starkey/) > [We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/we-find-few-historians-who-have-been-diligent-enough-in-their-search/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) > [One of the most important factors in life, politics and war, to which historians tend to devote too little attention, is sheer luck, good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-rhodes-james/one-of-the-most-important-factors-in-life-politics-and-war-to-which/) Robert Rhodes James > [The general consensus among historians, among the ones who can handle the fact that 'Lincoln' is, in fact, historical fiction, is that we demonstrate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/the-general-consensus-among-historians-among-the-ones-who-can-handle/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [Aging nations have arteries clogged with obsolete laws, slowing blood flow and preventing oxygen from reaching all parts of the body politic. Physicians call…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-cooper/aging-nations-have-arteries-clogged-with-obsolete-laws-slowing-blood/) [Jim Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-cooper/) > [The student of biology is often struck with the feeling that historians, when dealing with the rise and fall of nations, do not generally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-ross/the-student-of-biology-is-often-struck-with-the-feeling-that/) [Ronald Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-ross/) > [As historians, our training and discipline is based on documentary evidence,.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-dixon/as-historians-our-training-and-discipline-is-based-on-documentary/) [David Dixon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-dixon/) > [Geologists complain that when they want specimens of the common rocks of a country, they receive curious spars; just so, historians give us the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-whately/geologists-complain-that-when-they-want-specimens-of-the-common-rocks/) [Richard Whately](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-whately/) > [If you will protest courageously, and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in future generations, the historians will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-will-protest-courageously-and-yet-with-dignity-and-christian/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The poets have familiarized more people with history than have the historians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/the-poets-have-familiarized-more-people-with-history-than-have-the/) [Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/) > [ I have learned more \[from Balzac\] than from all the professional historians, economists, and statisticians put together. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-engels/i-have-learned-more-from-balzac-than-from-all-the-professional/) [Friedrich Engels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-engels/) > [Well goodness knows, goodness knows what historians will write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-downer/well-goodness-knows-goodness-knows-what-historians-will-write/) [Alexander Downer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-downer/) > [Since history has no properly scientific value, its only purpose is educative. And if historians neglect to educate the public, if they fail to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-m-trevelyan/since-history-has-no-properly-scientific-value-its-only-purpose-is/) [G. M. Trevelyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-m-trevelyan/) > [In history as it comes to be written, there is usually some Spirit of the Age which historians can define, but the shape of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-wood-krutch/in-history-as-it-comes-to-be-written-there-is-usually-some-spirit-of/) [Joseph Wood Krutch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-wood-krutch/) > [We are all historians in our small way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/we-are-all-historians-in-our-small-way/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) ## More by C. V. Wedgwood > [General knowledge may have to be slight or even amateurish knowledge, but it is none the less useful, and we discourage it at our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/general-knowledge-may-have-to-be-slight-or-even-amateurish-knowledge/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [Without the imaginative insight which goes with creative literature, history cannot be intelligibly written.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/without-the-imaginative-insight-which-goes-with-creative-literature/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [We have more to learn today from the spectacle of a great man at a great moment than from any number of monographs on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/we-have-more-to-learn-today-from-the-spectacle-of-a-great-man-at-a/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [Discontent and disorder were signs of energy and hope, not of despair.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/discontent-and-disorder-were-signs-of-energy-and-hope-not-of-despair/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [History being the record of human action is a richly variegated material, and it is not easy to give a true impression of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/history-being-the-record-of-human-action-is-a-richly-variegated/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [the independence of the artist is one of the great safeguards of the freedom of the human spirit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/the-independence-of-the-artist-is-one-of-the-great-safeguards-of-the/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [historical research of the truly scholastic kind is not connected with human beings at all. It is a pure study, like higher mathematics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/historical-research-of-the-truly-scholastic-kind-is-not-connected/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [It should be the historian's business not to belittle but to illuminate the greatness of man's spirit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/it-should-be-the-historian-s-business-not-to-belittle-but-to/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [International politics, by and large, are a depressing study.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/international-politics-by-and-large-are-a-depressing-study/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [For the truth is that men do not desire to be the Common Man any more than they are the Common Man. They need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/for-the-truth-is-that-men-do-not-desire-to-be-the-common-man-any-more/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [Good writing is almost the concomitant of good history. Literature and history were joined long since by the powers which shaped the human brain;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/good-writing-is-almost-the-concomitant-of-good-history-literature-and/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [History, in spite of the occasional protest of historians, will always be used in a general way as a collection of political and moral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/history-in-spite-of-the-occasional-protest-of-historians-will-always/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [somewhere about the eighteenth century, history tacitly replaced religion as the school of public morals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/somewhere-about-the-eighteenth-century-history-tacitly-replaced/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [The selective winnowing of time leaves only a few recognizable individuals behind for the historian to light on. Thus the historian who finds the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/the-selective-winnowing-of-time-leaves-only-a-few-recognizable/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [For the company of the great is good company as Shakespeare understood it, as Plutarch understood it. The past remains the source from which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/for-the-company-of-the-great-is-good-company-as-shakespeare/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) [Explore all 22 C. V. Wedgwood quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) ## More Deserve quotes > [If you are well-mannered towards those whose views are similar to yours, you may be said to exhibit a fairly good character. But, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-are-well-mannered-towards-those-whose-views-are-similar-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ Vote for Donald Trump. You're going to see something and you'll be so happy, you'll be so thrilled. This \[presidential\] election is about every… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/vote-for-donald-trump-you-re-going-to-see-something-and-you-ll-be-so/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [I am a millionaire today and my wife deserves all of the credit. Before I met her I was a multi-millionaire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chi-chi-rodriguez/i-am-a-millionaire-today-and-my-wife-deserves-all-of-the-credit/) [Chi Chi Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chi-chi-rodriguez/) > [There is a way to be a woman, ask for what we deserve and be able to negotiate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracee-ellis-ross/there-is-a-way-to-be-a-woman-ask-for-what-we-deserve-and-be-able-to/) [Tracee Ellis Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracee-ellis-ross/) > [If every nation gets the government it deserves, every generation writes the history which corresponds with its view of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/if-every-nation-gets-the-government-it-deserves-every-generation/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [I used to hurt so badly that I'd ask God why, what have I done to deserve any of this? 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Let me stay here.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andres-segovia/my-prayer-to-the-lord-every-day-is-this-i-have-been-a-great-sinner-i/) [Andres Segovia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andres-segovia/) > [Every girl deserves a guy who'll prove to her that not all guys are the same, a guy who'll love her just the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lil-wayne/every-girl-deserves-a-guy-who-ll-prove-to-her-that-not-all-guys-are/) [Lil Wayne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lil-wayne/) > [If you are a white male, you don't deserve to live. 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Sometimes they don't deserve it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rylan-clark-neal/i-am-constantly-nice-to-people-sometimes-they-don-t-deserve-it/) [Rylan Clark-Neal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rylan-clark-neal/) Browse all 4,764 Deserve quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A nation does not create the historians it deserves; the historians are far more likely to create the nation.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "C. V. 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