--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The Middle Ages burned its heretics and…" description: "\"The Middle Ages burned its heretics and the modern age threatens them with atom bombs.\" — Harold Innis" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/070/harold-innis-29347_age_the-middle-ages-burned-its-heretics-and_1818945.png" --- # The Middle Ages burned its heretics and the modern age… ![“The Middle Ages burned its heretics and the modern age threatens them with atom bombs.” quote by Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/070/harold-innis-29347_age_the-middle-ages-burned-its-heretics-and_1818945.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/070/harold-innis-29347_age_the-middle-ages-burned-its-heretics-and_1818945.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/070/harold-innis-29347_age_the-middle-ages-burned-its-heretics-and_1818945.png) > “The Middle Ages burned its heretics and the modern age threatens them with atom bombs.” [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Historical oppression shifts from religious persecution to modern existential threats, highlighting continuity of fear-driven control. **In simple terms:** Power has always used fear to control people. Key Takeaway Recognize and challenge modern threats to freedom. Themes history power control technology fear Mood critical reflective Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - education - policy making - activism - media analysis Key Concepts media theory social control political oppression Questions to Reflect On - How does fear shape societal control? - What can we do to protect freedoms? A Different Perspective Modern threats may be overstated without context. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/age/) [Ages Burned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ages-burned-2177841/) [Atom bomb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atom-bomb/) [Atoms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atoms/) [Bombs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bombs/) [Burned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/burned/) [Burned Heretics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/burned-heretics-2177840/) [Heretic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heretic/) [Heretics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heretics/) [Middle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle/) [Middle ages](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle-ages/) [Modern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern/) [Modern age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-age/) [Threatens Atom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/threatens-atom-2177842/) ## Related quotes > [I have always been on the side of the heretics, against those who burned them, because the heretics so often turned out to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-r-murrow/i-have-always-been-on-the-side-of-the-heretics-against-those-who/) [Edward R. Murrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-r-murrow/) > [What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/what-progress-we-are-making-in-the-middle-ages-they-would-have-burned/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [In the days of Moses and the prophets such a man would have been counted among the wise men of the land; in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-andersen/in-the-days-of-moses-and-the-prophets-such-a-man-would-have-been/) [Hans Christian Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-andersen/) > [The history of creation is but a succession of battles between amateurs of genius-inspired heretics- and orthodox professionals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/the-history-of-creation-is-but-a-succession-of-battles-between/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [I myself have read the writings and teachings of the heretics, polluting my soul for a while with their abominable notions, though deriving this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eusebius/i-myself-have-read-the-writings-and-teachings-of-the-heretics/) [Eusebius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eusebius/) > [I can understand why Christians call us heretics. But most important, who will God call a heretic? From God's point of view, my revelation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-myung-moon/i-can-understand-why-christians-call-us-heretics-but-most-important/) [Sun Myung Moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-myung-moon/) > [The world is kept alive only by heretics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/the-world-is-kept-alive-only-by-heretics/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [“We do not accept the repentance of heretics because we do not believe them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shulem-deen/we-do-not-accept-the-repentance-of-heretics-because-we-do-not-believe/) [Shulem Deen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shulem-deen/) > [“Isn't it strange how silence, in a way, has a sound of its own?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-gifune/isn-t-it-strange-how-silence-in-a-way-has-a-sound-of-its-own/) [Greg Gifune](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-gifune/) > [“It turns out that the people who like their jobs the most are also the ones who are doing the best work, making the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/it-turns-out-that-the-people-who-like-their-jobs-the-most-are-also/) [Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/) > [The conscience of the world is so guilty that it always assumes that people who investigate heresies must be heretics; just as if a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleister-crowley/the-conscience-of-the-world-is-so-guilty-that-it-always-assumes-that/) [Aleister Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleister-crowley/) > [Consequently, heretics and schismatics, separated from the unity of this Body, are able to receive the same Sacrament, but with no benefit to themselves;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/consequently-heretics-and-schismatics-separated-from-the-unity-of/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [“Pastor Bates was a careful reader of theology, literature and history. He delighted especially in Gibbon's woeful treatment of Christians in The Decline and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-m-morris/pastor-bates-was-a-careful-reader-of-theology-literature-and-history/) [Scott M. Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-m-morris/) > [ “Heretics are the only \[bitter\] remedy against the entropy of human thought. ("Literature, Revolution, and Entropy")” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/heretics-are-the-only-bitter-remedy-against-the-entropy-of-human/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [Wicked sons do not have the Holy Ghost in the same way as do beloved sons, and yet they do have Baptism. So, too,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/wicked-sons-do-not-have-the-holy-ghost-in-the-same-way-as-do-beloved/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) ## More by Harold Innis > [The effect of the discovery of printing was evident in the savage religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Application of power to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/the-effect-of-the-discovery-of-printing-was-evident-in-the-savage/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [We must appraise civilization in relation to its territory and in relation to its duration. The character of the medium of communication tends to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/we-must-appraise-civilization-in-relation-to-its-territory-and-in/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [Industrialism implies technology and the cutting of time into precise fragments suited to the needs of the engineer and the accountant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/industrialism-implies-technology-and-the-cutting-of-time-into-precise/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [Democracy will defeat the economist at every turn on its own genre.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/democracy-will-defeat-the-economist-at-every-turn-on-its-own-genre/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [Writing with a simplified alphabet checked the power of custom of an oral tradition but implied a decline in the power of expression and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/writing-with-a-simplified-alphabet-checked-the-power-of-custom-of-an/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [The significance of a basic medium to its civilization is difficult to appraise since the means of appraisal are influenced by the media, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/the-significance-of-a-basic-medium-to-its-civilization-is-difficult/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [It is suggested that all written works, including this one, have dangerous implications to the vitality of an oral tradition and to the health…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/it-is-suggested-that-all-written-works-including-this-one-have/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [The history of Canada has been profoundly influenced by the habits of an animal which very fittingly occupies a prominent place on her coat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/the-history-of-canada-has-been-profoundly-influenced-by-the-habits-of/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [Canada emerged as a political entity with boundaries largely determined by the fur trade. These boundaries included a vast north temperate land area extending…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/canada-emerged-as-a-political-entity-with-boundaries-largely/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [The overwhelming pressure of mechanization evident in the newspaper and the magazine, has led to the creation of vast monopolies of communication. Their entrenched…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/the-overwhelming-pressure-of-mechanization-evident-in-the-newspaper/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [Graham Wallas has reminded us that writing as compared with speaking involves an impression at the second remove and reading an impression at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/graham-wallas-has-reminded-us-that-writing-as-compared-with-speaking/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [Following the invention of writing, the special form of heightened language, characteristic of the oral tradition and a collective society, gave way to private…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/following-the-invention-of-writing-the-special-form-of-heightened/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [The full impact of printing did not become possible until the adoption of the Bill of Rights in the United States with its guarantee…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/the-full-impact-of-printing-did-not-become-possible-until-the/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [We have not yet realized that the Indian and his culture were fundamental to the growth of Canadian institutions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/we-have-not-yet-realized-that-the-indian-and-his-culture-were/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [The mixture of the oral and the written traditions in the writings of Plato enabled him to dominate the history of the West.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/the-mixture-of-the-oral-and-the-written-traditions-in-the-writings-of/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) [Explore all 18 Harold Innis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) ## More Age quotes > [I need a bath." 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