--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The historian is a prophet looking…" description: "\"The historian is a prophet looking backward.\" — Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3f/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlege_historian_the-historian-is-a-prophet-looking-backw_2423090.png" --- # The historian is a prophet looking backward. ![“The historian is a prophet looking backward.” quote by Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3f/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlege_historian_the-historian-is-a-prophet-looking-backw_2423090.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3f/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlege_historian_the-historian-is-a-prophet-looking-backw_2423090.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3f/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlege_historian_the-historian-is-a-prophet-looking-backw_2423090.png) > “The historian is a prophet looking backward.” [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. History reflects future possibilities, like a prophet looking backward. **In simple terms:** History predicts future trends Key Takeaway Study past to anticipate future Themes history philosophy prediction Mood analytical thoughtful Type philosophical academic When to use this quote - academic research - policy planning - cultural critique Key Concepts historical analysis foreshadowing Questions to Reflect On - What patterns repeat over time? - How can we avoid misreading history? A Different Perspective Past may not always predict accurately. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Historian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historian/) [Historian Prophet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historian-prophet-384310/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Looking Backward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/looking-backward-388057/) [Prophet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prophet/) [Prophet Looking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prophet-looking-2797519/) ## Related quotes > [“The historian is a prophet looking backwards.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-von-schlegel/the-historian-is-a-prophet-looking-backwards/) [Friedrich Von Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-von-schlegel/) > [A historian is not always a prophet facing backwards, but a journalist is always someone who afterwards knew everything beforehand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/a-historian-is-not-always-a-prophet-facing-backwards-but-a-journalist/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [The historian is a prophet facing backwards.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-von-schlegel/the-historian-is-a-prophet-facing-backwards/) [Friedrich Von Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-von-schlegel/) > [Traditionally art is to create and not to revive. To revive: leave that to the historians, who are looking backward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-albers/traditionally-art-is-to-create-and-not-to-revive-to-revive-leave-that/) [Josef Albers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-albers/) > [We are often prophets to others only because we are our own historians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-swetchine/we-are-often-prophets-to-others-only-because-we-are-our-own-historians/) [Sophie Swetchine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-swetchine/) > [Virtually every subject is most effectively learned directly from the greatest thinkers, historians, artists, philosophers, scientists, prophets and their original works. Great works inspire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-demille/virtually-every-subject-is-most-effectively-learned-directly-from-the/) [Oliver DeMille](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-demille/) > [You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jobs/you-can-t-connect-the-dots-looking-forward-you-can-only-connect-them/) [Steve Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jobs/) > [I hate looking backward, but every once in a while it sneaks up on you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/burt-lancaster/i-hate-looking-backward-but-every-once-in-a-while-it-sneaks-up-on-you/) [Burt Lancaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/burt-lancaster/) > [“We live our lives in forward motion, but only understand them when looking backward. I therefore challenge you to keep a six- to twelve-month…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-c-neal/we-live-our-lives-in-forward-motion-but-only-understand-them-when/) [Mary C. Neal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-c-neal/) > [I try to avoid looking forward or looking backward, and try to keep looking upward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/i-try-to-avoid-looking-forward-or-looking-backward-and-try-to-keep/) [Charlotte Brönte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [“You can't go forward if you're looking backward, Mac, Daddy always said. You run into walls that way.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-marie-moning/you-can-t-go-forward-if-you-re-looking-backward-mac-daddy-always-said/) [Karen Marie Moning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-marie-moning/) > [“Stop looking backward. Life isn’t lived in that direction. Your future isn’t in that direction. It’s forward, out into the horizon ahead of you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-e-feeley-jr/stop-looking-backward-life-isn-t-lived-in-that-direction-your-future/) [F.E. Feeley Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-e-feeley-jr/) > [“I do not like to dwell on the past. Life is ahead of us. If we spend too much time looking backward, we can’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-j-palacio/i-do-not-like-to-dwell-on-the-past-life-is-ahead-of-us-if-we-spend/) [R.J. Palacio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-j-palacio/) > [You can't go forward if you're looking backward. You run into walls that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-marie-moning/you-can-t-go-forward-if-you-re-looking-backward-you-run-into-walls/) [Karen Marie Moning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-marie-moning/) > [In order to move on from something of our past we have to change our way of thinking and our looking backward attitude.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anurag-prakash-ray/in-order-to-move-on-from-something-of-our-past-we-have-to-change-our/) [Anurag Prakash Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anurag-prakash-ray/) ## More by Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel > [The symmetry and organization of history teaches us that mankind, during its existence and development, genuinely was and became an individual, a person. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/the-symmetry-and-organization-of-history-teaches-us-that-mankind/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Both in their origins and effects, boredom and stuffy air resemble each other. They are usually generated whenever a large number of people gather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/both-in-their-origins-and-effects-boredom-and-stuffy-air-resemble/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Every good man progressively becomes God. To become God, to be man, and to educate oneself, are expressions that are synonymous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/every-good-man-progressively-becomes-god-to-become-god-to-be-man-and/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [The naive is what is or appears to be natural, individual, or classical to the point of irony or to the point of continuous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/the-naive-is-what-is-or-appears-to-be-natural-individual-or-classical/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Women are treated as unjustly in poetry as in life. The feminine ones are not idealistic, and the idealistic not feminine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/women-are-treated-as-unjustly-in-poetry-as-in-life-the-feminine-ones/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [In every good poem everything must be both deliberate and instinctive. That is how the poem becomes ideal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/in-every-good-poem-everything-must-be-both-deliberate-and-instinctive/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Only he who possesses a personal religion, an original view of infinity, can be an artist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/only-he-who-possesses-a-personal-religion-an-original-view-of/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Wit as an instrument of revenge is as infamous as art is as a means of sensual titillation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/wit-as-an-instrument-of-revenge-is-as-infamous-as-art-is-as-a-means/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Where philosophy ends, poetry must commence. There should not be a common point of view, a natural manner of thinking which standsin contrast to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/where-philosophy-ends-poetry-must-commence-there-should-not-be-a/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Wit is an explosion of the compound spirit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/wit-is-an-explosion-of-the-compound-spirit/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Life is writing. The sole purpose of mankind is to engrave the thoughts of divinity onto the tablets of nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/life-is-writing-the-sole-purpose-of-mankind-is-to-engrave-the/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Religion can emerge in all forms of feeling: here wild anger, there the sweetest pain; here consuming hatred, there the childlike smile of serene…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/religion-can-emerge-in-all-forms-of-feeling-here-wild-anger-there-the/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Women do not have as great a need for poetry because their own essence is poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/women-do-not-have-as-great-a-need-for-poetry-because-their-own/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [When the author has no idea of what to reply to a critic, he then likes to say: you could not do it better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/when-the-author-has-no-idea-of-what-to-reply-to-a-critic-he-then/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [One mentions many artists who are actually art works of nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/one-mentions-many-artists-who-are-actually-art-works-of-nature/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) [Explore all 186 Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) ## More Historian quotes > [We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/we-find-few-historians-who-have-been-diligent-enough-in-their-search/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) > [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/) > [“military historian Richard Holmes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clare-wright/military-historian-richard-holmes/) [Clare Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clare-wright/) > [In history as it comes to be written, there is usually some Spirit of the Age which historians can define, but the shape of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-wood-krutch/in-history-as-it-comes-to-be-written-there-is-usually-some-spirit-of/) [Joseph Wood Krutch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-wood-krutch/) > [A historian is not always a prophet facing backwards, but a journalist is always someone who afterwards knew everything beforehand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/a-historian-is-not-always-a-prophet-facing-backwards-but-a-journalist/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [The novelist must look on humanity without partiality or prejudice. His sympathy, like that of the historian, must be unbounded, and untainted by sect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/goldwin-smith/the-novelist-must-look-on-humanity-without-partiality-or-prejudice/) [Goldwin Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/goldwin-smith/) > [The historian amputates reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaetano-salvemini/the-historian-amputates-reality/) [Gaetano Salvemini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaetano-salvemini/) > [The issue of civil rights was too much for the establishment to handle. One of the chapters of history that's least studied by historians…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hayden/the-issue-of-civil-rights-was-too-much-for-the-establishment-to/) [Tom Hayden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hayden/) > [All I am in private life is a literary critic and historian, that's my job...And I'm prepared to say on that basis if anyone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/all-i-am-in-private-life-is-a-literary-critic-and-historian-that-s-my/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [“The historian will tell you what happened, the novelist will tell you what it felt like.” E.L. Doctorow”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-historian-will-tell-you-what-happened-the-novelist-will-tell-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If experiments are performed thousands of times at all seasons and in every place without once producing the effects mentioned by your philosophers, poets,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/galileo-galilei/if-experiments-are-performed-thousands-of-times-at-all-seasons-and-in/) [Galileo Galilei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/galileo-galilei/) > [I'm a historian by training and by conviction. And so the thing that has throughout informed my thinking about international relations is history. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-garton-ash/i-m-a-historian-by-training-and-by-conviction-and-so-the-thing-that/) [Timothy Garton Ash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-garton-ash/) > [The footnote would seem to be the smallest detail in a work of history. 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Trevelyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-m-trevelyan/) [Browse all 920 Historian quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historian/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The historian is a prophet looking backward.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/the-historian-is-a-prophet-looking-backward/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Historian" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/the-historian-is-a-prophet-looking-backward/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3f/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlege_historian_the-historian-is-a-prophet-looking-backw_2423090.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3f/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlege_historian_the-historian-is-a-prophet-looking-backw_2423090.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3f/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlege_historian_the-historian-is-a-prophet-looking-backw_2423090.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The historian is a prophet looking backward.” — Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel", "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": "Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The historian is a prophet looking...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/the-historian-is-a-prophet-looking-backward/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/the-historian-is-a-prophet-looking-backward/#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 } } ] } ```