--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Those who try to obliterate the past are…" description: "\"Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.\" — Helen Dunmore" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/helen-dunmore-12115_genocide_those-who-try-to-obliterate-the-past-are_1223805.png" --- # Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the… ![“Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.” quote by Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/helen-dunmore-12115_genocide_those-who-try-to-obliterate-the-past-are_1223805.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/helen-dunmore-12115_genocide_those-who-try-to-obliterate-the-past-are_1223805.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/helen-dunmore-12115_genocide_those-who-try-to-obliterate-the-past-are_1223805.png) > “Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.” [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Erasing the past harms the present, suggesting that memory and history are vital for current well‑being. **In simple terms:** Destroying past harms present. Key Takeaway Preserve history to protect the present. Themes memory history present health Mood reflective serious Type historical philosophical When to use this quote - education - policy making - community building Key Concepts cultural heritage collective memory social continuity Questions to Reflect On - What aspects of the past should we keep? - How does memory shape identity? A Different Perspective May conflict with desires for reform or forgetting trauma. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Genocide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/genocide/) [Injuring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/injuring/) [Obliterate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obliterate/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“They want us to be afraid. They want us to be afraid of leaving our homes. They want us to barricade our doors and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamand-kojouri/they-want-us-to-be-afraid-they-want-us-to-be-afraid-of-leaving-our/) [Kamand Kojouri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamand-kojouri/) > [I love pushing my boundaries and seeing how far I can go without, you know, dying or injuring myself too badly. On set I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-grammer/i-love-pushing-my-boundaries-and-seeing-how-far-i-can-go-without-you/) [Spencer Grammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-grammer/) > [Pardoning the Bad, is injuring the Good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/pardoning-the-bad-is-injuring-the-good/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [I never set out to intentionally hurt any player and never enticed any teammate to intentionally hurt another player. I also never put any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-vilma/i-never-set-out-to-intentionally-hurt-any-player-and-never-enticed/) [Jonathan Vilma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-vilma/) > [There are lots of people who cannot think seriously without injuring their minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-jay-chapman/there-are-lots-of-people-who-cannot-think-seriously-without-injuring/) [John Jay Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-jay-chapman/) > [Success won by injuring others isn't success; it's sin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/success-won-by-injuring-others-isn-t-success-it-s-sin/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-wise-and-frugal-government-which-shall-restrain-men-from-injuring/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [We have a disharmony in our natures. We cannot live together without injuring each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-golding/we-have-a-disharmony-in-our-natures-we-cannot-live-together-without/) [William Golding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-golding/) > [When you have an enemy in your power, deprive him of the means of ever injuring you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/when-you-have-an-enemy-in-your-power-deprive-him-of-the-means-of-ever/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [The greedy man is he who habitually eats too much, knowing that he is injuring his bodily health thereby, and this is a vice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-f-benson-2/the-greedy-man-is-he-who-habitually-eats-too-much-knowing-that-he-is/) [E. F. Benson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-f-benson-2/) > [With classical ballet you are literally injuring yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marina-abramovic/with-classical-ballet-you-are-literally-injuring-yourself/) [Marina Abramovic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marina-abramovic/) > [Bear in mind that you commit a crime by injuring even a wicked brother.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seneca-the-younger/bear-in-mind-that-you-commit-a-crime-by-injuring-even-a-wicked-brother/) [Seneca the Younger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seneca-the-younger/) > [I don't think it's right to be throwing at someone intentionally, and risking injuring them by hitting them in the wrist, or the elbow,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-bauer/i-don-t-think-it-s-right-to-be-throwing-at-someone-intentionally-and/) [Trevor Bauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-bauer/) > [I ended up injuring her with a knife I had on me. I can't really remember what happened.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mathias-rust/i-ended-up-injuring-her-with-a-knife-i-had-on-me-i-can-t-really/) [Mathias Rust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mathias-rust/) > [I'm always calling my doctor because I'm constantly injuring myself while on the road, like tearing a ligament, blasting my ears or losing my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mika/i-m-always-calling-my-doctor-because-i-m-constantly-injuring-myself/) [Mika](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mika/) ## More by Helen Dunmore > [Mourning Ruby is not a flat landscape: it is more like a box with pictures painted on every face. And each face is also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/mourning-ruby-is-not-a-flat-landscape-it-is-more-like-a-box-with/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [To try to expunge an individual's history is a terrible violation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/to-try-to-expunge-an-individual-s-history-is-a-terrible-violation/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn't work, throw it away. It's a nice feeling, and you don't want to be cluttered with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/reread-rewrite-reread-rewrite-if-it-still-doesn-t-work-throw-it-away/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [“The word 'personal' is one of my aversions. Personal loan. Personal hygiene. Personal safety. It's only a way of wrapping up bad news that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/the-word-personal-is-one-of-my-aversions-personal-loan-personal/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [I can remember being in my pram: children stayed in their prams much longer then than they do now. A big bouncy pram with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/i-can-remember-being-in-my-pram-children-stayed-in-their-prams-much/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [“Dad was alive. I believed Conor, but I still didn't really know it. But now I do.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/dad-was-alive-i-believed-conor-but-i-still-didn-t-really-know-it-but/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to pour your story into.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/a-novel-in-the-end-is-a-container-a-shape-which-you-are-trying-to/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [“Fear of this order is not an emotion. It is like a virus overwhelming every cell of his body, while his mind struggles to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/fear-of-this-order-is-not-an-emotion-it-is-like-a-virus-overwhelming/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [“Our houses are palaces to those who have none.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/our-houses-are-palaces-to-those-who-have-none/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [I could start with Mandelstam, who was a huge influence on my early writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/i-could-start-with-mandelstam-who-was-a-huge-influence-on-my-early/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [My first collection of poems was published by Bloodaxe Books, which was then a very new imprint.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/my-first-collection-of-poems-was-published-by-bloodaxe-books-which/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [“It seemed to me that there was a self-interest hidden in the core of all of us, which cooled us when we contemplated any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/it-seemed-to-me-that-there-was-a-self-interest-hidden-in-the-core-of/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/a-problem-with-a-piece-of-writing-often-clarifies-itself-if-you-go/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [“You have to keep on with a house, day after day, I think. Heating, cleaning, opening and closing windows, making sounds to fill the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/you-have-to-keep-on-with-a-house-day-after-day-i-think-heating/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) > [I hope that readers will tear through my books because they can't stop themselves - and then, maybe, read them again and find new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/i-hope-that-readers-will-tear-through-my-books-because-they-can-t/) [Helen Dunmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) [Explore all 56 Helen Dunmore quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/) ## More Genocide quotes > [Here's the reality. The image of a white Jesus has been used to justify enslavement, conquest, colonialism, the genocide of indigenous peoples. There are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-wise/here-s-the-reality-the-image-of-a-white-jesus-has-been-used-to/) [Tim Wise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-wise/) > [“There is no time for patience - there is no time for diplomacy - there is no time for policies, legislations and meaningless paperwork.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/there-is-no-time-for-patience-there-is-no-time-for-diplomacy-there-is/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. ... We are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/our-nation-was-born-in-genocide-when-it-embraced-the-doctrine-that/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [I find in working always the disturbing intrusion of elements not a part of my most interested vision, and the inevitable obliteration and replacement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hopper/i-find-in-working-always-the-disturbing-intrusion-of-elements-not-a/) [Edward Hopper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hopper/) > [“We are preaching hope, standing on the bones of the past.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-rucyahana/we-are-preaching-hope-standing-on-the-bones-of-the-past/) [John Rucyahana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-rucyahana/) > [If people in Indonesia look 'different', they are afraid. Racist insults fly if someone does not look like part of the majority. Indonesia is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-vltchek/if-people-in-indonesia-look-different-they-are-afraid-racist-insults/) [Andre Vltchek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-vltchek/) > [Except for the scale of the operation, there was nothing unusual about Hitler's massacre of the Jews. Genocide's an old tradition, as human as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/except-for-the-scale-of-the-operation-there-was-nothing-unusual-about/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“People talk about history and things like slavery, genocide, and religious persecution as horrors that happened in the past because we were ignorant. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-matthew-nespoli/people-talk-about-history-and-things-like-slavery-genocide-and/) [J. Matthew Nespoli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-matthew-nespoli/) > [The situation in Europe is much more advanced, in terms of pro-genocide trends, than in the United States, yet. But we're going very rapidly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndon-larouche/the-situation-in-europe-is-much-more-advanced-in-terms-of-pro/) [Lyndon LaRouche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndon-larouche/) > [There are something like 300 anti-genocide chapters on college campuses around the country. It's bigger than the anti-apartheid movement. There are something like 500…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samantha-power/there-are-something-like-300-anti-genocide-chapters-on-college/) [Samantha Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samantha-power/) > [American coffee can be a pale solution served at a temperature of 100 degrees centigrade in plastic thermos cups, usually obligatory in railroad stations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/american-coffee-can-be-a-pale-solution-served-at-a-temperature-of-100/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [“Even more horrifying was the “Rwandan Genocide” that witnessed the mass slaughter of nearly one million Rwandan Tutsis in only 100 days, by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-c-grumley/even-more-horrifying-was-the-rwandan-genocide-that-witnessed-the-mass/) [Michael C. Grumley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-c-grumley/) > [“FLIES IN DISGUISE Tell me, Have you Really seen Flies in a child's eyes Or heard their hungry cries In the middle Of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzy-kassem/flies-in-disguise-tell-me-have-you-really-seen-flies-in-a-child-s/) [Suzy Kassem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzy-kassem/) > [“The human race comes from Africa, but inhumanity originated in Europe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/the-human-race-comes-from-africa-but-inhumanity-originated-in-europe/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“Like Leontius, the young Athenian in Plato, I presume that you are reading this because you desire a closer look, and that you, too,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-gourevitch/like-leontius-the-young-athenian-in-plato-i-presume-that-you-are/) [Philip Gourevitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-gourevitch/) [Browse all 620 Genocide quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/genocide/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Helen Dunmore" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/those-who-try-to-obliterate-the-past-are-injuring-the-present/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Genocide" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/those-who-try-to-obliterate-the-past-are-injuring-the-present/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/helen-dunmore-12115_genocide_those-who-try-to-obliterate-the-past-are_1223805.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/helen-dunmore-12115_genocide_those-who-try-to-obliterate-the-past-are_1223805.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/helen-dunmore-12115_genocide_those-who-try-to-obliterate-the-past-are_1223805.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.” — Helen Dunmore", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Helen Dunmore", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-dunmore/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Those who try to obliterate the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/those-who-try-to-obliterate-the-past-are-injuring-the-present/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-dunmore/those-who-try-to-obliterate-the-past-are-injuring-the-present/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```