---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think every period - except for the…"
description: "\"I think every period - except for the 14th century, or something - has some merits.\" — Julian Fellowes"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2bb/julian-fellowes-2981_century_i-think-every-period-except-for-the-14th_1851174.png"
---

#  I think every period - except for the 14th century, or…

![“I think every period - except for the 14th century, or something - has some merits.” quote by Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2bb/julian-fellowes-2981_century_i-think-every-period-except-for-the-14th_1851174.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2bb/julian-fellowes-2981_century_i-think-every-period-except-for-the-14th_1851174.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2bb/julian-fellowes-2981_century_i-think-every-period-except-for-the-14th_1851174.png)

> “I think every period - except for the 14th century, or something - has some merits.”

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Every era has its own value, even if some are less celebrated.

**In simple terms:** All periods have merits.

Key Takeaway

Recognize worth in each historical era.

Themes

history valuation perspective

Mood

analytical curious

Type

historical philosophical

When to use this quote

- educational curricula
- museum exhibits
- public debates

Key Concepts

cultural merit chronological analysis

Questions to Reflect On

- Which overlooked era intrigues you?
- How do we measure a period's merit?

A Different Perspective

Some periods may lack clear achievements.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/)

## Related quotes

> [I do think there was a period there when my sanity was under intense pressure, and I didn't know what to say or do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-do-think-there-was-a-period-there-when-my-sanity-was-under-intense/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [I believe that if we think back to the period from F.D.R. through, let us say, Bush I, until the end of the Cold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/i-believe-that-if-we-think-back-to-the-period-from-f-d-r-through-let/)

[Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/)

> [The sage never seems to know his own merits, for only by not noticing them can you call others' attention to them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baltasar-gracian/the-sage-never-seems-to-know-his-own-merits-for-only-by-not-noticing/)

[Baltasar Gracian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baltasar-gracian/)

> [Every soul... comes into the world strengthened by the victories or weakened by the defeats of its' previous life. Its' place in this world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/origen/every-soul-comes-into-the-world-strengthened-by-the-victories-or/)

[Origen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/origen/)

> [Alfred Nobel - pitiable half-creature, should have been stifled by humane doctor when he made his entry yelling into life. Greatest merits: Keeps his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-nobel/alfred-nobel-pitiable-half-creature-should-have-been-stifled-by/)

[Alfred Nobel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-nobel/)

> [I take every job on its merits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-baker/i-take-every-job-on-its-merits/)

[Colin Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-baker/)

> [We should not judge a man's merits by his great qualities, but by the use he makes of them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/we-should-not-judge-a-man-s-merits-by-his-great-qualities-but-by-the/)

[Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/)

> [Constant success shows us but one side of the world. For as it surrounds us with friends who will tell us only our merits,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/constant-success-shows-us-but-one-side-of-the-world-for-as-it/)

[Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/)

> [I've never compromised who I am not ever. If I've gotten anywhere in my life it's been on my own merits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cher/i-ve-never-compromised-who-i-am-not-ever-if-i-ve-gotten-anywhere-in/)

[Cher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cher/)

> [Even the most abject have a sense of superiority based on powerful though undefined merits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/even-the-most-abject-have-a-sense-of-superiority-based-on-powerful/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [Modern historians have suggested that in his last years he (Richard II) was overtaken by mental disease, but that is only a modern view…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/modern-historians-have-suggested-that-in-his-last-years-he-richard-ii/)

[Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/)

> [ Woman \[in the 14th century\] was the Church's rival, the temptress, the distraction, the obstacle to holiness, the Devil's decoy. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/woman-in-the-14th-century-was-the-church-s-rival-the-temptress-the/)

[Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/)

> [ The clergy \[in the 14th century\] on the whole were probably no more lecherous or greedy or untrustworthy than other men, but because they… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/the-clergy-in-the-14th-century-on-the-whole-were-probably-no-more/)

[Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/)

> [“Crop rotation in the 14th century was considerably more widespread after John?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rik-mayall/crop-rotation-in-the-14th-century-was-considerably-more-widespread/)

[Rik Mayall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rik-mayall/)

> [Money was the crux. Raising money to pay the cost of war was to cause more damage to 14th century society than the physical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/money-was-the-crux-raising-money-to-pay-the-cost-of-war-was-to-cause/)

[Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/)

## More by Julian Fellowes

> [You do get fond of your characters. Handing them on is like giving a child to a nanny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/you-do-get-fond-of-your-characters-handing-them-on-is-like-giving-a/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [Well, you've got to be known for something. The danger of extreme versatility is that you don't spring to mind for anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/well-you-ve-got-to-be-known-for-something-the-danger-of-extreme/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [“The freedom of growing older is that one is no longer obliged to dislike someone simply because they dislike you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/the-freedom-of-growing-older-is-that-one-is-no-longer-obliged-to/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [If you're supposed to be a 'personality,' then you might as well have a personality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/if-you-re-supposed-to-be-a-personality-then-you-might-as-well-have-a/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [We don't really like rules. We think, in some way, they are an infringement of liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/we-don-t-really-like-rules-we-think-in-some-way-they-are-an/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [You see, in America, it's quite standard for an actor to sign, at the beginning of a series, for five or seven years. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/you-see-in-america-it-s-quite-standard-for-an-actor-to-sign-at-the/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [“Real unhappiness is ugly and wounding and scarring to the soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/real-unhappiness-is-ugly-and-wounding-and-scarring-to-the-soul/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [“The longer one knows people the less relevant it becomes whether or not one liked them initially.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/the-longer-one-knows-people-the-less-relevant-it-becomes-whether-or/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [Sometimes the weekend gets hijacked by work, but as my mother would say, this is the right problem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/sometimes-the-weekend-gets-hijacked-by-work-but-as-my-mother-would/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [“How many of us, having cried bitter, rancid tears over a failed love, are actually disappointed when we discover, seeing the adored one again,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/how-many-of-us-having-cried-bitter-rancid-tears-over-a-failed-love/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [I like to take a long time over breakfast, and I can't bear to talk. If a guest is a breakfast talker it's very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/i-like-to-take-a-long-time-over-breakfast-and-i-can-t-bear-to-talk-if/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [I always loved movies and the cinema; we always used to go to see films as a family.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/i-always-loved-movies-and-the-cinema-we-always-used-to-go-to-see/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [You know, I'm not a revolutionary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/you-know-i-m-not-a-revolutionary/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [Nothing is harder to dramatize than happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/nothing-is-harder-to-dramatize-than-happiness/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

> [We are usually undone by our lack of understanding of ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/we-are-usually-undone-by-our-lack-of-understanding-of-ourselves/)

[Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

[Explore all 139 Julian Fellowes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/)

## More Century quotes

> [I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-know-always-that-i-am-an-outsider-a-stranger-in-this-century-and/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [ \[The Dalai Lama\] told me some years ago, "I've made every concession to China, and I've been as open and tolerant as I could,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/the-dalai-lama-told-me-some-years-ago-i-ve-made-every-concession-to/)

[Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/)

> [Anybody looking for a quiet life has picked the wrong century to born in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/anybody-looking-for-a-quiet-life-has-picked-the-wrong-century-to-born/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/)

[David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/)

> [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/)

[George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/)

> [Talented people can predict with great accuracy what's about to happen just a tiny bit ahead of their competitors. It might be two seconds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-maney/talented-people-can-predict-with-great-accuracy-what-s-about-to/)

[Kevin Maney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-maney/)

> [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/)

[James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/)

> [The nineteenth century lynching mob cuts off ears, toes, and fingers, strips off flesh, and distributes portions of the body as souvenirs among the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/the-nineteenth-century-lynching-mob-cuts-off-ears-toes-and-fingers/)

[Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/)

> [At no time in the past century has public distrust of the government been so broadly distributed across the political spectrum, as it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-zimmermann/at-no-time-in-the-past-century-has-public-distrust-of-the-government/)

[Phil Zimmermann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-zimmermann/)

> [While husbands and lovers in the stories are of all kinds, ranging from sympathetic to disgusting, women are invariably deceivers: inconstant, unscrupulous, quarrelsome, querulous,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/while-husbands-and-lovers-in-the-stories-are-of-all-kinds-ranging/)

[Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/)

> [The young people today are the 21st century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-scorsese/the-young-people-today-are-the-21st-century/)

[Martin Scorsese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-scorsese/)

> [The wisdom of our actions in the first three years of peace will determine the course of world history for half a century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-a-wallace/the-wisdom-of-our-actions-in-the-first-three-years-of-peace-will/)

[Henry A. Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-a-wallace/)

> [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/)

[William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/)

> [In a general way, the literature of the twentieth century is essentially psychological; and psychology consists of describing states of the soul by displaying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/in-a-general-way-the-literature-of-the-twentieth-century-is/)

[Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/)

> [Consequently, citizen legislators, rotating back to their communities after a short period of public service—considered an indispensable and routine characteristic and design of representative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/consequently-citizen-legislators-rotating-back-to-their-communities/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

Browse all 5,406 Century quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "I think every period - except for the 14th century, or something - has some merits.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Julian Fellowes"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/i-think-every-period-except-for-the-14th-century-or-something-has/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Century"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/i-think-every-period-except-for-the-14th-century-or-something-has/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2bb/julian-fellowes-2981_century_i-think-every-period-except-for-the-14th_1851174.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2bb/julian-fellowes-2981_century_i-think-every-period-except-for-the-14th_1851174.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2bb/julian-fellowes-2981_century_i-think-every-period-except-for-the-14th_1851174.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“I think every period - except for the 14th century, or something - has some merits.” — Julian Fellowes",
                "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": "Julian Fellowes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "I think every period - except...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/i-think-every-period-except-for-the-14th-century-or-something-has/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/i-think-every-period-except-for-the-14th-century-or-something-has/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
