--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It really is brilliant news that…" description: "\"“It really is brilliant news that historians can just never get things right.”\" — Keith Jenkins" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e52/keith-jenkins-252932_history_it-really-is-brilliant-news-that-histori_900935.jpg" --- # It really is brilliant news that historians can just never… ![“It really is brilliant news that historians can just never get things right.” quote by Keith Jenkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e52/keith-jenkins-252932_history_it-really-is-brilliant-news-that-histori_900935.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e52/keith-jenkins-252932_history_it-really-is-brilliant-news-that-histori_900935.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e52/keith-jenkins-252932_history_it-really-is-brilliant-news-that-histori_900935.jpg) > ““It really is brilliant news that historians can just never get things right.”” Keith Jenkins ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Historians rarely get facts right, which is surprisingly remarkable. **In simple terms:** Historians often err, which is notable. Key Takeaway Question historical narratives critically. Themes history skepticism truth Mood critical skeptical Type observation philosophical When to use this quote - academic research - media consumption - public discourse Key Concepts critical thinking interpretation bias knowledge construction Questions to Reflect On - Why do we trust historians? - How can we verify historical claims? A Different Perspective May overgeneralize historiography. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Historians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historians/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) ## Related quotes > [“if it really was brilliant I’d have thought of it already.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-c-clarke/if-it-really-was-brilliant-i-d-have-thought-of-it-already/) [Arthur C. Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-c-clarke/) > [The ALS ice bucket challenge was really the most brilliant publicity stunt of 2014, and it has brought worldwide awareness for a barely-known disease.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yolanda-hadid/the-als-ice-bucket-challenge-was-really-the-most-brilliant-publicity/) [Yolanda Hadid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yolanda-hadid/) > [Sociopaths are just like everybody else in that some of them are really brilliant, some of them are really stupid, and most of them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-stout/sociopaths-are-just-like-everybody-else-in-that-some-of-them-are/) [Martha Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-stout/) > [I like A$AP Rocky, because I think he's really brilliant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scarface/i-like-a-ap-rocky-because-i-think-he-s-really-brilliant/) [Scarface](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scarface/) > [More than anything, being an English major made me more appreciative of authors and what an incredible feat it is to just finish a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-mangan/more-than-anything-being-an-english-major-made-me-more-appreciative/) [Dan Mangan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-mangan/) > [There is a very small chance that you might be really brilliant and really talented.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-gordon/there-is-a-very-small-chance-that-you-might-be-really-brilliant-and/) [Jon Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-gordon/) > [The brilliant thing about baseball is you're never really out of it.The brilliant thing about baseball is you're never really out of it -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-wright/the-brilliant-thing-about-baseball-is-you-re-never-really-out-of-it/) [David Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-wright/) > [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/) > [Since history has no properly scientific value, its only purpose is educative. And if historians neglect to educate the public, if they fail to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-m-trevelyan/since-history-has-no-properly-scientific-value-its-only-purpose-is/) [G. M. Trevelyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-m-trevelyan/) > [“So it appears to me, for when he could and should have wielded his pen to praise the virtues of so good a knight,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-de-cervantes/so-it-appears-to-me-for-when-he-could-and-should-have-wielded-his-pen/) [Miguel de Cervantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-de-cervantes/) > [“I know quite well why I became a historian… It was because dissension was frowned upon when I was a child: 'Don't argue, Claudia,'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penelope-lively/i-know-quite-well-why-i-became-a-historian-it-was-because-dissension/) [Penelope Lively](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penelope-lively/) > [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/) > [The quarrel of the sociologists with the historians is that the latter have learned so much about how to do it that they have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-quarrel-of-the-sociologists-with-the-historians-is-that-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Well goodness knows, goodness knows what historians will write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-downer/well-goodness-knows-goodness-knows-what-historians-will-write/) [Alexander Downer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-downer/) > [ I have learned more \[from Balzac\] than from all the professional historians, economists, and statisticians put together. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-engels/i-have-learned-more-from-balzac-than-from-all-the-professional/) [Friedrich Engels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-engels/) ## More Historians 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/) > [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/) > [“I know quite well why I became a historian… It was because dissension was frowned upon when I was a child: 'Don't argue, Claudia,'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penelope-lively/i-know-quite-well-why-i-became-a-historian-it-was-because-dissension/) [Penelope Lively](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penelope-lively/) > [“So it appears to me, for when he could and should have wielded his pen to praise the virtues of so good a knight,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-de-cervantes/so-it-appears-to-me-for-when-he-could-and-should-have-wielded-his-pen/) [Miguel de Cervantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-de-cervantes/) > [Since history has no properly scientific value, its only purpose is educative. And if historians neglect to educate the public, if they fail to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-m-trevelyan/since-history-has-no-properly-scientific-value-its-only-purpose-is/) [G. M. Trevelyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-m-trevelyan/) > [Well goodness knows, goodness knows what historians will write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-downer/well-goodness-knows-goodness-knows-what-historians-will-write/) [Alexander Downer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-downer/) > [The quarrel of the sociologists with the historians is that the latter have learned so much about how to do it that they have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-quarrel-of-the-sociologists-with-the-historians-is-that-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ I have learned more \[from Balzac\] than from all the professional historians, economists, and statisticians put together. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-engels/i-have-learned-more-from-balzac-than-from-all-the-professional/) [Friedrich Engels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-engels/) > [“An ambitious freshman congresswoman demanded funding to put a public historian in every zip code in the country, a correction for what she called…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-evans/an-ambitious-freshman-congresswoman-demanded-funding-to-put-a-public/) [Danielle Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-evans/) > [The simplest things to see are the things we are most blind to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milliton-munney/the-simplest-things-to-see-are-the-things-we-are-most-blind-to/) [Milliton MUNNEY](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milliton-munney/) > [The poets have familiarized more people with history than have the historians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/the-poets-have-familiarized-more-people-with-history-than-have-the/) [Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/) > [If you will protest courageously, and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in future generations, the historians will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-will-protest-courageously-and-yet-with-dignity-and-christian/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Geologists complain that when they want specimens of the common rocks of a country, they receive curious spars; just so, historians give us the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-whately/geologists-complain-that-when-they-want-specimens-of-the-common-rocks/) [Richard Whately](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-whately/) > [“The best moments in life are not the kind many historians record.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-lee-burke/the-best-moments-in-life-are-not-the-kind-many-historians-record/) [James Lee Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-lee-burke/) > [Fact-checking doesn't exist primarily because some of us are liars and cheats. It exists because writers will be writers, much as they may mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-dreger/fact-checking-doesn-t-exist-primarily-because-some-of-us-are-liars/) [Alice Dreger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-dreger/) [Browse all 357 Historians quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historians/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It really is brilliant news that historians can just never get things right.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Keith Jenkins" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-jenkins/it-really-is-brilliant-news-that-historians-can-just-never-get-things/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Historians" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-jenkins/it-really-is-brilliant-news-that-historians-can-just-never-get-things/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e52/keith-jenkins-252932_history_it-really-is-brilliant-news-that-histori_900935.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e52/keith-jenkins-252932_history_it-really-is-brilliant-news-that-histori_900935.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e52/keith-jenkins-252932_history_it-really-is-brilliant-news-that-histori_900935.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It really is brilliant news that historians can just never get things right.” — Keith Jenkins", "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": "Keith Jenkins", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-jenkins/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“It really is brilliant news that...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-jenkins/it-really-is-brilliant-news-that-historians-can-just-never-get-things/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-jenkins/it-really-is-brilliant-news-that-historians-can-just-never-get-things/#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 } } ] } ```