--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Think about it. People in the sixteenth…" description: "\"“Think about it. People in the sixteenth century - not to mention in Jesus's time - didn't look like this: perfect skin, perfect hairdos, spotless clot..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39b/julia-david-levithan-121277_are-we-there-yet_think-about-it-people-in-the-sixteenth-c_1647510.jpg" --- # Think about it. People in the sixteenth century - not to… ![“Think about it. People in the sixteenth century - not to mention in Jesus's time - didn't look like this: perfect skin, perfect hairdos, spotless clothes. These are people who went to the bathroom in the street, for God's sake. There's no way they looked like this. But that's how we're going to…” quote by Julia David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39b/julia-david-levithan-121277_are-we-there-yet_think-about-it-people-in-the-sixteenth-c_1647510.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39b/julia-david-levithan-121277_are-we-there-yet_think-about-it-people-in-the-sixteenth-c_1647510.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39b/julia-david-levithan-121277_are-we-there-yet_think-about-it-people-in-the-sixteenth-c_1647510.jpg) > ““Think about it. People in the sixteenth century - not to mention in Jesus's time - didn't look like this: perfect skin, perfect hairdos, spotless clothes. These are people who went to the bathroom in the street, for God's sake. There's no way they looked like this. But that's how we're going to remember them. Our alabaster past. When nothing else is left, art will become the truth of the time. Then people will get to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and wonder what happened - how we all became so imperfect.”” Julia David Levithan ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Historical images are idealized, ignoring past imperfections; art preserves these myths, shaping future memory. **In simple terms:** We romanticize the past, forgetting its flaws. Key Takeaway Critically examine how art shapes historical narratives. Themes history art perception memory culture Mood critical contemplative Type Are-we-there-yet:1 Art:1 David-levithan:1 History:1 Time:1 Think People:1 Sixteenth Century:1 People Nineteenth:1 Century Mention:1 People Sixteenth:1 When to use this quote - museum curation - education - media analysis - public discourse Key Concepts idealization historical revisionism visual culture Questions to Reflect On - How does art influence our view of history? - What responsibilities do creators have in representing the past? A Different Perspective Idealized past can distort understanding of present challenges. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [David-levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/david-levithan/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“You can find sorrow in the arithmetic, and you can find a bittersweet hope.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/you-can-find-sorrow-in-the-arithmetic-and-you-can-find-a-bittersweet/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [“In the sixteenth century, English was established as a language of record;”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kory-stamper/in-the-sixteenth-century-english-was-established-as-a-language-of/) [Kory Stamper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kory-stamper/) > [“It is called Giordano Bruno after the sixteenth-century Roman Catholic scholar who held that there are an infinity of worlds and that many are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/it-is-called-giordano-bruno-after-the-sixteenth-century-roman/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“Only an obstinate prejudice about this period (which I will presently try to account for) could blind us to a certain change which comes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/only-an-obstinate-prejudice-about-this-period-which-i-will-presently/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [It is beyond a doubt that during the sixteenth century, and the years immediately preceding and following it, poisoning had been brought to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/it-is-beyond-a-doubt-that-during-the-sixteenth-century-and-the-years/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [In the middle of the sixteenth century, Spain was the incubus of Europe. Gloomy and portentous, she chilled the world with her baneful shadow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-parkman/in-the-middle-of-the-sixteenth-century-spain-was-the-incubus-of/) [Francis Parkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-parkman/) > [In the ancient city of London, on a certain autumn day in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, a boy was born to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/in-the-ancient-city-of-london-on-a-certain-autumn-day-in-the-second/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“Modern women had their own self-made guilt to make them miserable, but the sixteenth-century people had diseases, their fear of the unknown, their ignorance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jude-deveraux/modern-women-had-their-own-self-made-guilt-to-make-them-miserable-but/) [Jude Deveraux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jude-deveraux/) > [“WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? Tiny shouts in my ear, and I want to say, "Hopefully, go find a guy who knows there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/what-am-i-going-to-do-tiny-shouts-in-my-ear-and-i-want-to-say/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“The spot was empty. Empty but not void. Void is when there is absolutely nothing there and the nothing is natural, a complete vacuum.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/the-spot-was-empty-empty-but-not-void-void-is-when-there-is/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [“I don't have the heart to tell him that's the wrong way to think about the world. There will always be more questions Every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/i-don-t-have-the-heart-to-tell-him-that-s-the-wrong-way-to-think/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [“Love is love. I have never fallen in love with a gender. I have fallen for individuals.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/love-is-love-i-have-never-fallen-in-love-with-a-gender-i-have-fallen/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [“this is what i never allow myself to need. and of course i've been needing it all along.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan-john-green/this-is-what-i-never-allow-myself-to-need-and-of-course-i-ve-been/) David Levithan John Green > [“i have no idea what truth has to do with love, and vice versa. i’m not even thinking in terms of love here. it’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/i-have-no-idea-what-truth-has-to-do-with-love-and-vice-versa-i-m-not/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [“What I'm trying to say is that I spent the last four months learning to be alone, avoiding the world, hating pretty much anyone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-cremer/what-i-m-trying-to-say-is-that-i-spent-the-last-four-months-learning/) [Andrea Cremer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-cremer/) ## More Are-we-there-yet quotes > [“You can find sorrow in the arithmetic, and you can find a bittersweet hope.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/you-can-find-sorrow-in-the-arithmetic-and-you-can-find-a-bittersweet/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) Browse all 2 Are-we-there-yet quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Think about it. 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