History Quote by John Crowley
““they slipped one by one again into the merely fictional – Hermes’s false Egypt, and Bruno’s false Hermes; Kraft’s false Bruno; Pierce’s false history of the world, the doors that had once blown open blowing closed again one by one down the corridor into the colored centuries.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: Little, Big by John Crowley, 1981
The passage describes how successive ideas and narratives collapse into myth, losing factual grounding and becoming mere stories.
In simple terms: Ideas become myths and lose reality.
Key Takeaway
Question the basis of accepted histories.
Themes
myth
history
perception
illusion
knowledge
Mood
reflective
skeptical
inquisitive
Type
literary
philosophical
critical
When to use this quote
- academic research
- literary analysis
- cultural critique
- media literacy
- personal belief systems
Key Concepts
postmodernism
narrative collapse
epistemology
Questions to Reflect On
- What evidence supports or refutes these “false” histories?
- How do we differentiate myth from fact?
A Different Perspective
The quote assumes all historical narratives are equally false, ignoring evidence‑based scholarship.
![“I had gradually come, by this time [1839-01], to see that the Old Testament from its manifestly false history of the world, with the Tower of Babel, the rainbow as a sign, etc., etc. and from its attributing to God the feelings of a revengeful tyrant, was no more to be trusted than the sacred…” quote by Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/00a/charles-darwin-507_babel_i-had-gradually-come-by-this-time-1839-0_1785401.jpg)
