--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is a commonplace that good historians…" description: "\"“It is a commonplace that good historians don’t judge statements from past times by the standards of their own.”\" — Richard Dawkins" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d7/richard-dawkins-115_history_it-is-a-commonplace-that-good-historians_2068728.jpg" --- # It is a commonplace that good historians don’t judge… ![“It is a commonplace that good historians don’t judge statements from past times by the standards of their own.” quote by Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d7/richard-dawkins-115_history_it-is-a-commonplace-that-good-historians_2068728.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d7/richard-dawkins-115_history_it-is-a-commonplace-that-good-historians_2068728.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d7/richard-dawkins-115_history_it-is-a-commonplace-that-good-historians_2068728.jpg) > ““It is a commonplace that good historians don’t judge statements from past times by the standards of their own.”” [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Historians should evaluate past statements within their historical context, not by modern standards. **In simple terms:** Judge past by its time. Key Takeaway Contextualize historical judgments. Themes history context critical thinking Mood analytical cautious Type scholarly reflective When to use this quote - academic research - teaching - public discourse - media analysis Key Concepts philosophy methodology Questions to Reflect On - How do you avoid presentism? - What tools help assess historical context? A Different Perspective Modern bias can still color interpretation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Historians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historians/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [If historians don't tell stories at the scales of creation myths, someone else will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-christian/if-historians-don-t-tell-stories-at-the-scales-of-creation-myths/) [David Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-christian/) > [At some time in their careers, most good historians itch to write a history of the world, endeavor to discover what makes humanity the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-johnson/at-some-time-in-their-careers-most-good-historians-itch-to-write-a/) [Paul Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-johnson/) > [“Good historians...have the future in their bones”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hallett-carr/good-historians-have-the-future-in-their-bones/) [Edward Hallett Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hallett-carr/) > [The reason I put so much energy into it at the beginning was that while there were plenty of people looking after the talkies,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-brownlow/the-reason-i-put-so-much-energy-into-it-at-the-beginning-was-that/) [Kevin Brownlow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-brownlow/) > [The knowledge of the past times and of the places of the earth is both an ornament and nutriment to the human mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/the-knowledge-of-the-past-times-and-of-the-places-of-the-earth-is/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [Those who have no power to judge of past times but by their own, should always doubt their conclusions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/those-who-have-no-power-to-judge-of-past-times-but-by-their-own/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [For most of the people there is no today and there is no tomorrow; for them, there is only the past times! Leave your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/for-most-of-the-people-there-is-no-today-and-there-is-no-tomorrow-for/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Reminiscing about great past times is always a pleasure, so long as reviewing these past times is not used as a way of emphasizing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/reminiscing-about-great-past-times-is-always-a-pleasure-so-long-as/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [Remembering the past times. Those good times. When you were all so happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/remembering-the-past-times-those-good-times-when-you-were-all-so-happy/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Time is so fast that all times are past times! 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Besides the question: Why? the historian also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hallett-carr/good-historians-i-suspect-whether-they-think-about-it-or-not-have-the/) [Edward Hallett Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hallett-carr/) > [“It follows that the one thing we should not do to the men and women of past time, and particularly if they ghost through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauro-martines/it-follows-that-the-one-thing-we-should-not-do-to-the-men-and-women/) Lauro Martines > [“But the future reaches out to us, as does the past, and all times are the present.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/but-the-future-reaches-out-to-us-as-does-the-past-and-all-times-are/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) > [I don't live in the past. And besides, there are too many times in my career to remember specific events, because I played so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-west/i-don-t-live-in-the-past-and-besides-there-are-too-many-times-in-my/) [Jerry West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-west/) ## More by Richard Dawkins > [At the deepest level, all living things that have ever been looked at have the same DNA code. And many of the same genes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/at-the-deepest-level-all-living-things-that-have-ever-been-looked-at/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [The word 'mundane' has come to mean 'boring' and 'dull', and it really shouldn't - it should mean the opposite. Because it comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-word-mundane-has-come-to-mean-boring-and-dull-and-it-really/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [We animals are the most complicated things in the known universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-animals-are-the-most-complicated-things-in-the-known-universe/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“The fundamentalist Kurt Wise proclaims that all the evidence in the universe would not change his mind. The true scientist, however passionately he may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-fundamentalist-kurt-wise-proclaims-that-all-the-evidence-in-the/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“I have found it an amusing strategy, when asked whether I am an atheist, to point out that the questioner is also an atheist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/i-have-found-it-an-amusing-strategy-when-asked-whether-i-am-an/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Religions do make claims about the universe--the same kinds of claims that scientists make, except they're usually false.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/religions-do-make-claims-about-the-universe-the-same-kinds-of-claims/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/much-of-the-bible-is-not-systematically-evil-but-just-plain-weird-as/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [The recurrent laryngeal nerve - which runs from the head to the voice box - goes all the way down into the chest, loops…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-recurrent-laryngeal-nerve-which-runs-from-the-head-to-the-voice/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [The Roman Catholic Church is an institution for whose gains the phrase "ill-gotten" might have been specially invented. And of all its money-making rip-offs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-roman-catholic-church-is-an-institution-for-whose-gains-the/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to because we may then at least have the chance to upset their designs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/let-us-understand-what-our-own-selfish-genes-are-up-to-because-we-may/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [What's going to happen when I die? I may be buried, or I may be cremated, I may give my body to science. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/what-s-going-to-happen-when-i-die-i-may-be-buried-or-i-may-be/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Or why it is acceptable to train fast runners and high jumpers but not to breed them. I can think of some answers, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/or-why-it-is-acceptable-to-train-fast-runners-and-high-jumpers-but/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [We have seen that living things are too improbable and too beautifully 'designed' to have come into existence by chance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-have-seen-that-living-things-are-too-improbable-and-too/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“We will not go quietly away. If in the future that requires violence”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-will-not-go-quietly-away-if-in-the-future-that-requires-violence/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [It's a truly disgusting idea that the creator of the universe - capable of inventing the laws of physics and designing the evolutionary process…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/it-s-a-truly-disgusting-idea-that-the-creator-of-the-universe-capable/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) [Explore all 1,239 Richard Dawkins quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) ## 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 is a commonplace that good historians don’t judge statements from past times by the standards of their own.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Dawkins" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/it-is-a-commonplace-that-good-historians-don-t-judge-statements-from/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Historians" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/it-is-a-commonplace-that-good-historians-don-t-judge-statements-from/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d7/richard-dawkins-115_history_it-is-a-commonplace-that-good-historians_2068728.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d7/richard-dawkins-115_history_it-is-a-commonplace-that-good-historians_2068728.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d7/richard-dawkins-115_history_it-is-a-commonplace-that-good-historians_2068728.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is a commonplace that good historians don’t judge statements from past times by the standards of their own.” — Richard Dawkins", "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": "Richard Dawkins", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“It is a commonplace that good...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/it-is-a-commonplace-that-good-historians-don-t-judge-statements-from/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/it-is-a-commonplace-that-good-historians-don-t-judge-statements-from/#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 } } ] } ```