--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My argument is that history is made by…" description: "\"My argument is that history is made by men and women, just as it can also be unmade and rewritten, always with various silence and elisions, always wit..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a83/edward-said-6412_argument_my-argument-is-that-history-is-made-by-m_740759.jpg" --- # My argument is that history is made by men and women, just… ![“My argument is that history is made by men and women, just as it can also be unmade and rewritten, always with various silence and elisions, always with shapes imposed and disfigurements tolerated.” quote by Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a83/edward-said-6412_argument_my-argument-is-that-history-is-made-by-m_740759.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a83/edward-said-6412_argument_my-argument-is-that-history-is-made-by-m_740759.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a83/edward-said-6412_argument_my-argument-is-that-history-is-made-by-m_740759.jpg) > “My argument is that history is made by men and women, just as it can also be unmade and rewritten, always with various silence and elisions, always with shapes imposed and disfigurements tolerated.” [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. History is shaped by those in power, but also by what is omitted or altered, reflecting both creation and erasure. **In simple terms:** History is made and unmade by people, with silences and distortions. Key Takeaway Recognize and challenge hidden narratives. Themes power history silence representation truth Mood critical reflective Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - academic research - activism - media analysis - education - policy making Key Concepts postcolonial theory narrative construction memory studies Questions to Reflect On - Who decides which stories are told? - How can we reveal suppressed histories? A Different Perspective Silences can be hard to uncover and may be contested. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Argument](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/argument/) [Argument History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/argument-history-4518145/) [Disfigurement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disfigurement/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [History Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history-men-398533/) [Made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/made/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Men and women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-and-women/) [Rewritten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rewritten/) [Shapes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shapes/) [Silence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/silence/) [Unmade Rewritten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unmade-rewritten-5784433/) [Various](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/various/) ## Related quotes > [We are in the year 2013, and racism is still amongst us and is still a problem. It's not simply an argument for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-prince-boateng/we-are-in-the-year-2013-and-racism-is-still-amongst-us-and-is-still-a/) [Kevin-Prince Boateng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-prince-boateng/) > [History is full of really good stories. That's the main reason I got into this racket: I want to make the argument that history…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-vowell/history-is-full-of-really-good-stories-that-s-the-main-reason-i-got/) [Sarah Vowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-vowell/) > [Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that men never learn anything from history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/hegel-was-right-when-he-said-that-we-learn-from-history-that-men/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [There is no inevitability in history except as men make it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-frankfurter/there-is-no-inevitability-in-history-except-as-men-make-it/) [Felix Frankfurter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felix-frankfurter/) > [ “I'm sure that someday children in schools will study the history of the men \[sic\] who made war as you study an absurdity. They'll… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/golda-meir/i-m-sure-that-someday-children-in-schools-will-study-the-history-of/) [Golda Meir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/golda-meir/) > [“It's a shame for a woman's history to be all about men-first boys, then other boys, then men, men, men. It reminds me of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kostova/it-s-a-shame-for-a-woman-s-history-to-be-all-about-men-first-boys/) [Elizabeth Kostova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kostova/) > [In the course of history, men come to see that iron necessity is neither iron nor necessary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/in-the-course-of-history-men-come-to-see-that-iron-necessity-is/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [From their experience or from the recorded experience of others (history), men learn only what their passions and their metaphysical prejudices allow them to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/from-their-experience-or-from-the-recorded-experience-of-others/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [The effect on men has been very bad, too, of the omission of women's history, because men have been given the impression that they're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerda-lerner/the-effect-on-men-has-been-very-bad-too-of-the-omission-of-women-s/) [Gerda Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerda-lerner/) > [Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-chamfort/only-the-history-of-free-peoples-is-worth-our-attention-the-history/) [Nicolas Chamfort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-chamfort/) > [It's a shame for women's history to be all about men--first boys, then other boys, then men men men. It reminds me of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kostova/it-s-a-shame-for-women-s-history-to-be-all-about-men-first-boys-then/) [Elizabeth Kostova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kostova/) > [The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/the-history-of-the-world-is-the-history-of-a-few-men-who-had-faith-in-2/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [“The history of men is reflected in the history of sewers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/the-history-of-men-is-reflected-in-the-history-of-sewers/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“We shall not understand the history of men and of other times unless we ourselves are alive to the requirements which that history satisfied,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benedetto-croce/we-shall-not-understand-the-history-of-men-and-of-other-times-unless/) [Benedetto Croce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benedetto-croce/) > [“Throughout history, the men competing to shape the future had collected lost sheep to use as pawns in their game, cannon fodder in their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-chercover/throughout-history-the-men-competing-to-shape-the-future-had/) [Sean Chercover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-chercover/) ## More by Edward Said > [Beginning is not only a kind of action. It is also a frame of mind, a kind of work, an attitude, a consciousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/beginning-is-not-only-a-kind-of-action-it-is-also-a-frame-of-mind-a/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [It's very hard, for example, to justify the thirty-four-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It's very hard to justify 140 Israeli settlements…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/it-s-very-hard-for-example-to-justify-the-thirty-four-year-occupation/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [ \[9/11\] was bloody-minded destruction for no other reason than to do it. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/9-11-was-bloody-minded-destruction-for-no-other-reason-than-to-do-it/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Look at situations as contingent, not as inevitable, look at them as the result of a series of historical choices made by men and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/look-at-situations-as-contingent-not-as-inevitable-look-at-them-as/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [I was one of the first people in the Palestinian world, in the late 1970s, to say that there is no military option, either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/i-was-one-of-the-first-people-in-the-palestinian-world-in-the-late/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Take a young man from Gaza living in the most horrendous conditions - most of it imposed by Israel - who straps dynamite around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/take-a-young-man-from-gaza-living-in-the-most-horrendous-conditions/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [ \[One task of intellectuals is\] to break down the stereotypes and reductive categories that are . . . limiting to human thought and communication. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/one-task-of-intellectuals-is-to-break-down-the-stereotypes-and/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [I have never known what is Arabic or English, or which one was really mine beyond any doubt. What I do know, however, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/i-have-never-known-what-is-arabic-or-english-or-which-one-was-really/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/every-single-empire-in-its-official-discourse-has-said-that-it-is-not/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [ The just response to this terrible event \[9/11\] should be to go immediately to the world community, the United Nations. The rule of international… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/the-just-response-to-this-terrible-event-9-11-should-be-to-go/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Since when does a militarily occupied people have the responsibility for a peace movement?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/since-when-does-a-militarily-occupied-people-have-the-responsibility/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Refuse to allow yourself to become a vegetable that simply absorbs information, pre-packaged, pre-ideologized , because no message.. is anything but an ideological package…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/refuse-to-allow-yourself-to-become-a-vegetable-that-simply-absorbs/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [No cause, no God, no abstract idea can justify the mass slaughter of innocents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/no-cause-no-god-no-abstract-idea-can-justify-the-mass-slaughter-of/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [What we must eliminate are systems of representation that carry with them the authority which has become repressive because it doesn't permit or make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/what-we-must-eliminate-are-systems-of-representation-that-carry-with/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Part of the main plan of imperialism... is that we will give you your history, we will write it for you, we will re-order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/part-of-the-main-plan-of-imperialism-is-that-we-will-give-you-your/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) [Explore all 97 Edward Said quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) ## More Argument quotes > [A flourishing, morally credible media is a vital component in the maintenance of genuinely public talk, argument about common good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/a-flourishing-morally-credible-media-is-a-vital-component-in-the/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [Preaching to the choir actually arms the choir with arguments and elevates the choir's discourse. 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