---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To picture world history as advancing…"
description: "\"To picture world history as advancing smoothly and steadily without sometimes taking gigantic strides backward is undialectical, unscientific and theor..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72f/vladimir-lenin-1306_advancing_to-picture-world-history-as-advancing-sm_914785.jpg"
---

#  To picture world history as advancing smoothly and…

![“To picture world history as advancing smoothly and steadily without sometimes taking gigantic strides backward is undialectical, unscientific and theoretically wrong.” quote by Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72f/vladimir-lenin-1306_advancing_to-picture-world-history-as-advancing-sm_914785.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72f/vladimir-lenin-1306_advancing_to-picture-world-history-as-advancing-sm_914785.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72f/vladimir-lenin-1306_advancing_to-picture-world-history-as-advancing-sm_914785.jpg)

> “To picture world history as advancing smoothly and steadily without sometimes taking gigantic strides backward is undialectical, unscientific and theoretically wrong.”

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

## About This Quote

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

History does not progress in a straight line; it includes regressions and abrupt changes that challenge linear narratives.

**In simple terms:** History is not always smooth; it can jump backward.

Key Takeaway

Expect and study sudden setbacks.

Themes

history progress dialectics science theory

Mood

critical analytical

Type

philosophical political educational

When to use this quote

- political analysis
- academic research
- education curriculum
- policy planning
- public discourse

Key Concepts

Marxism dialectical materialism historical determinism

Questions to Reflect On

- How do you account for backward steps in progress?
- What evidence shows abrupt changes in history?

A Different Perspective

Linear models ignore complex causes of regression.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Unscientific](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unscientific/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) [World history](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-history/)

## Related quotes

> [This doesn't show that there is anything wrong with our theoretical understanding, any more than the intuition that the Earth is at rest shows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-papineau/this-doesn-t-show-that-there-is-anything-wrong-with-our-theoretical/)

[David Papineau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-papineau/)

> [“There is a curious idea among unscientific men that in scientific writing there is a common plateau of perfectionism. Nothing could be more untrue.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/there-is-a-curious-idea-among-unscientific-men-that-in-scientific/)

[John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/)

> [Unscientific man is beset by a deplorable desire to have been right. The scientist is distinguished by a desire to be right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willard-van-orman-quine/unscientific-man-is-beset-by-a-deplorable-desire-to-have-been-right/)

[Willard Van Orman Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willard-van-orman-quine/)

> [It is embarrassingly unscientific to speak of anything creating itself from nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-comfort/it-is-embarrassingly-unscientific-to-speak-of-anything-creating/)

[Ray Comfort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-comfort/)

> [The 'science' for which the United States is respected has nothing to do with the unscientific and baseless theory of evolution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-comfort/the-science-for-which-the-united-states-is-respected-has-nothing-to/)

[Ray Comfort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-comfort/)

> [Since most scientists are just a bit religious, and most religious are seldom wholly unscientific, we find humanity in a comical position. His scientific…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-golding/since-most-scientists-are-just-a-bit-religious-and-most-religious-are/)

[William Golding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-golding/)

> [When science starts to be interpretive it is more unscientific even than mysticism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/when-science-starts-to-be-interpretive-it-is-more-unscientific-even/)

[D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/)

> [I am as non-accepting of medical quackery and unscientific approaches as anybody else. I've grown up as a card-carrying scientist, and I know the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-ornish/i-am-as-non-accepting-of-medical-quackery-and-unscientific-approaches/)

[Dean Ornish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-ornish/)

> [I think that the theory of evolution is the most unscientific, faith-based, fundamentally brainless idea that ever had the misfortune to come out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-comfort/i-think-that-the-theory-of-evolution-is-the-most-unscientific-faith/)

[Ray Comfort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-comfort/)

> [Please don't make the mistake of thinking that the arts and sciences are at odds with one another. That is a recent, stupid and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-minchin/please-don-t-make-the-mistake-of-thinking-that-the-arts-and-sciences/)

[Tim Minchin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-minchin/)

> [Some may claim that is it unscientific to speak of the operations of nature as "miracles." But the point of the title lies in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elisha-gray/some-may-claim-that-is-it-unscientific-to-speak-of-the-operations-of/)

[Elisha Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elisha-gray/)

> [Even if we don't have a precise idea of exactly what took place at the beginning, we can at least see that the origin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-davies/even-if-we-don-t-have-a-precise-idea-of-exactly-what-took-place-at/)

[Paul Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-davies/)

> [Begin where you are. It would be unscientific to begin anywhere else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-holmes/begin-where-you-are-it-would-be-unscientific-to-begin-anywhere-else/)

[Ernest Holmes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-holmes/)

> [“Evil may be 'unscientific' but so is a song or a smile.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/evil-may-be-unscientific-but-so-is-a-song-or-a-smile/)

[Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/)

> [Science is not a system of certain, or -established, statements; nor is it a system which steadily advances towards a state of finality... And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/science-is-not-a-system-of-certain-or-established-statements-nor-is/)

[Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/)

## More by Vladimir Lenin

> [Dictatorship is rule based directly upon force and unrestricted by any laws. The revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat is rule won and maintained by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/dictatorship-is-rule-based-directly-upon-force-and-unrestricted-by/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [Honesty in politics is the result of strength; hypocrisy is the result of weakness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/honesty-in-politics-is-the-result-of-strength-hypocrisy-is-the-result/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [Our power does not know liberty or justice. It is established on the destruction of the individual will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/our-power-does-not-know-liberty-or-justice-it-is-established-on-the/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [For the complete extinction of the state, complete Communism is necessary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/for-the-complete-extinction-of-the-state-complete-communism-is/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [The reflection of nature in man's thought must be understood not lifelessly but in the eternal process of movement, the arising of contradictions and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/the-reflection-of-nature-in-man-s-thought-must-be-understood-not/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [Our program necessarily includes the propaganda of atheism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/our-program-necessarily-includes-the-propaganda-of-atheism/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/the-best-way-to-destroy-the-capitalist-system-is-to-debauch-the/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [“Private property based on the labour of the small proprietor, free competition, democracy, i.e., all the catchwords with which the capitalists and their press…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/private-property-based-on-the-labour-of-the-small-proprietor-free/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [Can a nation be free if it oppresses other nations? It cannot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/can-a-nation-be-free-if-it-oppresses-other-nations-it-cannot/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [International unity of the workers is more important than the national.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/international-unity-of-the-workers-is-more-important-than-the-national/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [I don't care what becomes of Russia. To hell with it. All this is only the road to a World Revolution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/i-don-t-care-what-becomes-of-russia-to-hell-with-it-all-this-is-only/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [I must say that the tasks of the youth in general, and of the Young Communist Leagues and all other organisations in particular, might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/i-must-say-that-the-tasks-of-the-youth-in-general-and-of-the-young/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [People always have been the foolish victims of deception and self-deception in politics, and they always will be, until they have learned to seek…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/people-always-have-been-the-foolish-victims-of-deception-and-self/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [One would like to stroke and caress human beings, but one dares not do so, because they bite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/one-would-like-to-stroke-and-caress-human-beings-but-one-dares-not-do/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [As an ultimate objective, "peace" simply means communist world control.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/as-an-ultimate-objective-peace-simply-means-communist-world-control/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

[Explore all 258 Vladimir Lenin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

## More Advancing quotes

> [I am not the avant-garde. I am the artist who comes after the advancing guard. I am more concerned with continuity of ideas and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-oliveira/i-am-not-the-avant-garde-i-am-the-artist-who-comes-after-the/)

[Nathan Oliveira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-oliveira/)

> [The average condition of the people improving or deteriorating, depends upon whether population is advancing faster than improvement, or improvement than population.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stuart-mill/the-average-condition-of-the-people-improving-or-deteriorating/)

[John Stuart Mill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stuart-mill/)

> [The problem with merely writing so that you can be understood is that the wrong people, in advancing their agendas, are only too ready…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-a-dembski/the-problem-with-merely-writing-so-that-you-can-be-understood-is-that/)

[William A. Dembski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-a-dembski/)

> [I needed to save every penny…I needed to be strong, and needed to find some way to secure a future. That’s why I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-ka-shing/i-needed-to-save-every-penny-i-needed-to-be-strong-and-needed-to-find/)

[Li Ka-shing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-ka-shing/)

> [The corporation is not an independent "person" with its own rights, needs, and desires that regulators must respect. It is a state created tool…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-bakan/the-corporation-is-not-an-independent-person-with-its-own-rights/)

[Joel Bakan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-bakan/)

> [I believe that the manned space program can engage the public by advancing the space frontier. Every next mission takes you farther out in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/i-believe-that-the-manned-space-program-can-engage-the-public-by/)

[Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/)

> [Five qualities there are wine's praise advancing; Strong, beautiful, fragrant, cool and dancing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-harington/five-qualities-there-are-wine-s-praise-advancing-strong-beautiful/)

[John Harington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-harington/)

> [Ladies: Anne Hathaway is a feminist and she has amazing teeth. Let's save our bad attitudes for the ones who aren't advancing the cause.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-hathaway/ladies-anne-hathaway-is-a-feminist-and-she-has-amazing-teeth-let-s/)

[Anne Hathaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-hathaway/)

> [Increasingly constructive doubt is the sign of advancing civilization. We must put question marks along many of our inherited legal dogmas, since they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerome-frank/increasingly-constructive-doubt-is-the-sign-of-advancing-civilization/)

[Jerome Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerome-frank/)

> [What's important is how we use our time on this earth, not how conspicuously we give our money away. What's important is the energy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-pallotta/what-s-important-is-how-we-use-our-time-on-this-earth-not-how/)

[Dan Pallotta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-pallotta/)

> [Advancing bourgeois society liquidates memory, time, recollection as irrational leftovers of the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-adorno/advancing-bourgeois-society-liquidates-memory-time-recollection-as/)

[Theodor Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-adorno/)

> [The real debate is we've had an activist court, and the American people don't want an activist court. And the real fear from those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-coburn/the-real-debate-is-we-ve-had-an-activist-court-and-the-american/)

[Tom Coburn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-coburn/)

> [When one has made a decision to kill a person, even if it will be very difficult to succeed by advancing straight ahead, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yamamoto-tsunetomo/when-one-has-made-a-decision-to-kill-a-person-even-if-it-will-be-very/)

[Yamamoto Tsunetomo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yamamoto-tsunetomo/)

> [The universe is deathless; Is deathless because, having no finite self, it stays infinite. A sound man by not advancing himself stays the further…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/the-universe-is-deathless-is-deathless-because-having-no-finite-self/)

[Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/)

> [I'm convinced after spending three weeks in China and Tibet, unless the United States gets its act together, our grandchildren will be living in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-kondracke/i-m-convinced-after-spending-three-weeks-in-china-and-tibet-unless/)

[Mort Kondracke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-kondracke/)

Browse all 266 Advancing quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "To picture world history as advancing smoothly and steadily without sometimes taking gigantic strides backward is undialectical, unscientific and theoretically wrong.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Vladimir Lenin"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/to-picture-world-history-as-advancing-smoothly-and-steadily-without/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Advancing"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/to-picture-world-history-as-advancing-smoothly-and-steadily-without/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72f/vladimir-lenin-1306_advancing_to-picture-world-history-as-advancing-sm_914785.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72f/vladimir-lenin-1306_advancing_to-picture-world-history-as-advancing-sm_914785.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72f/vladimir-lenin-1306_advancing_to-picture-world-history-as-advancing-sm_914785.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“To picture world history as advancing smoothly and steadily without sometimes taking gigantic strides…” — Vladimir Lenin",
                "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": "Vladimir Lenin",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "To picture world history as advancing...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/to-picture-world-history-as-advancing-smoothly-and-steadily-without/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/to-picture-world-history-as-advancing-smoothly-and-steadily-without/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
