--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think there's a tide that tends to…" description: "\"I think there's a tide that tends to carry historians back to the past.\" — Ron Chernow" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a4/ron-chernow-1189_historians_i-think-there-s-a-tide-that-tends-to-car_1256368.png" --- # I think there's a tide that tends to carry historians back… ![“I think there's a tide that tends to carry historians back to the past.” quote by Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a4/ron-chernow-1189_historians_i-think-there-s-a-tide-that-tends-to-car_1256368.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a4/ron-chernow-1189_historians_i-think-there-s-a-tide-that-tends-to-car_1256368.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a4/ron-chernow-1189_historians_i-think-there-s-a-tide-that-tends-to-car_1256368.png) > “I think there's a tide that tends to carry historians back to the past.” [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Historians are drawn to study past events, often revisiting them despite present concerns. **In simple terms:** Historians tend to focus on the past. Key Takeaway Embrace present perspectives while learning from history. Themes history memory scholarship Mood reflective analytical Type academic historical When to use this quote - academic research - public policy - education - media analysis Key Concepts historical bias temporal focus Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance past insights with present needs? - What modern tools can help historians stay forward‑looking? A Different Perspective Past focus can limit relevance to current issues. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Historians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historians/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“It is extraordinarily entertaining to watch the historians of the past ... entangling themselves in what they were pleased to call the "problem" of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-l-sayers/it-is-extraordinarily-entertaining-to-watch-the-historians-of-the/) [Dorothy L. Sayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-l-sayers/) > [“When you are in love, you think nothing will ever be the same but then the tide rushes out and there it is, everything,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-foxlee/when-you-are-in-love-you-think-nothing-will-ever-be-the-same-but-then/) [Karen Foxlee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-foxlee/) > [“You think Tide is better, or All?' 'Which has a prettier box?' I ask. 'I don't want a pretty box. I want a dude…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-lockhart/you-think-tide-is-better-or-all-which-has-a-prettier-box-i-ask-i-don/) [E. Lockhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-lockhart/) > [I think -- tide turning -- see, as I remember -- I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of -- it's easy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/i-think-tide-turning-see-as-i-remember-i-was-raised-in-the-desert-but/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [“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/) > [ 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/) > [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/) > [“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/) > [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/) ## More by Ron Chernow > [“In other words, Julia still believed in the beneficial effects of tobacco long after her husband had likely died from it. Even grimacing with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/in-other-words-julia-still-believed-in-the-beneficial-effects-of/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [“Right before his inauguration, he received a Quaker delegation and asked them to nominate Indian agents from their members. “If you can make Quakers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/right-before-his-inauguration-he-received-a-quaker-delegation-and/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [“Grant roomed with Fred Dent, who also singled out Grant as “the clearest headed young man I ever saw . . . He always wanted to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/grant-roomed-with-fred-dent-who-also-singled-out-grant-as-the/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [The richly cadenced prose is hypnotic, the research prodigious, the analysis acute, the mood spellbinding, and the cast of characters mythic in scale. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/the-richly-cadenced-prose-is-hypnotic-the-research-prodigious-the/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [“Hamilton has often been extolled as the exponent of a rational foreign policy based on cool calculations of national self-interest. But his April 14…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/hamilton-has-often-been-extolled-as-the-exponent-of-a-rational/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [“While the folks at home embraced him as an improbable hero, Washington was denigrated in England as a reckless young warrior and in France…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/while-the-folks-at-home-embraced-him-as-an-improbable-hero-washington/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [“the immorality of slavery became patently clear that spring. He had acquired from Colonel Dent the mulatto slave named William Jones who had worked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/the-immorality-of-slavery-became-patently-clear-that-spring-he-had/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [“As his life steadily unraveled, he pawned his gold watch and chain for $20 on December 23, 1857, to purchase Christmas presents for his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/as-his-life-steadily-unraveled-he-pawned-his-gold-watch-and-chain-for/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [“Grant had overwhelmingly won the electoral vote, and had garnered the largest popular majority of the century, nearly 56 percent of the vote, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/grant-had-overwhelmingly-won-the-electoral-vote-and-had-garnered-the/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [“The chief quartermaster on the West Coast, Robert Allen, an old friend of Grant’s, learned he was holed up in a cheap miner’s hotel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/the-chief-quartermaster-on-the-west-coast-robert-allen-an-old-friend/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [“Returning to his Manhattan town house on Christmas Eve, Grant, sixty-one, pivoted to hand the driver a holiday tip when he slipped on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/returning-to-his-manhattan-town-house-on-christmas-eve-grant-sixty/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [“When he bet Julia that she wouldn’t dare to descend into the mine, located seventeen hundred feet below, it roused her fighting spirit and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/when-he-bet-julia-that-she-wouldn-t-dare-to-descend-into-the-mine/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [“Consequential to the election outcome were the many private contacts in the capital between southern Democrats and Hayes’s northern Republican supporters. At Wormley’s Hotel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/consequential-to-the-election-outcome-were-the-many-private-contacts/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [“The trial wasn’t the finest hour of American justice as the treatment of the prisoners seemed medieval in its barbarism. Almost all of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/the-trial-wasn-t-the-finest-hour-of-american-justice-as-the-treatment/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) > [“he warned that progressive accumulation of debt “is perhaps the NATURAL DISEASE of all Governments. And it is not easy to conceive anything more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/he-warned-that-progressive-accumulation-of-debt-is-perhaps-the/) [Ron Chernow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) [Explore all 276 Ron Chernow quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/) ## 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": "I think there's a tide that tends to carry historians back to the past.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ron Chernow" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/i-think-there-s-a-tide-that-tends-to-carry-historians-back-to-the-past/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Historians" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/i-think-there-s-a-tide-that-tends-to-carry-historians-back-to-the-past/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a4/ron-chernow-1189_historians_i-think-there-s-a-tide-that-tends-to-car_1256368.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a4/ron-chernow-1189_historians_i-think-there-s-a-tide-that-tends-to-car_1256368.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a4/ron-chernow-1189_historians_i-think-there-s-a-tide-that-tends-to-car_1256368.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think there's a tide that tends to carry historians back to the past.” — Ron Chernow", "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": "Ron Chernow", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-chernow/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I think there's a tide that...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/i-think-there-s-a-tide-that-tends-to-carry-historians-back-to-the-past/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-chernow/i-think-there-s-a-tide-that-tends-to-carry-historians-back-to-the-past/#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 } } ] } ```