The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties.
I do not mean to say, that the scenes of the revolution are now or ever will be entirely forgotten; but that like every thing else, they must fade upon the memory of the world, and grow more and more dim by the lapse of time.... At the close of the struggle, nearly every adult male had been a participator in some of its scenes. The consequence was, that of those scenes, in the form of a husband, a father, a son or a brother, a living history was to be found in every family.... But those histories are gone. They can be read no more forever. They were a fortress of strength; but, what invading foemen could never do, the silent artillery of time has done; the leveling of its walls
To be unacquainted with what has passed in the world, before we came into it ourselves, is to be always children. For what is the age of a single mortal, unless it is connected, by the aid of History, with the times of our ancestors?
A man who has lived in many places is not likely to be deceived by the local errors of his native village: the scholar has lived in many times and is therefore in some degree immune from the great cataract of nonsense that pours from the press and the microphone of his own age.
Another reason why news stories are unsuited to communicate historical understanding is that their format is such that they invariably report such facts out of context. An individual historical fact has meaning only in relation to other facts. Outside that context, a single fact is almost certain to convey an erroneous impression.
We recognize that our forebears were human. They doubtless made mistakes...But the mistakes were minor, when compared with the marvelous work which they accomplished. To highlight the mistakes and gloss over the greater good is to draw a caricature. Caricatures are amusing, but they are often ugly and dishonest. A man may have a blemish on his cheek and still have a face of beauty and strength, but if the blemish is emphasized unduly in relation to his other features, the portrait is lacking in integrity...
...attitudes aren’t taught, they’re caught
Family, teachers, friends, rivals, competitors—they’ve all shaped us. And so too have people we’ve never met, never known, because they lived long before us. They have shaped us too—the people who composed the symphonies that move us, the painters, the poets, those who have written the great literature in our language.
We are raising a generation of young Americans who are by-and-large historically illiterate. And it’s not their fault.
We have to value what our forebears—and not just in the 18th century, but our own parents and grandparents—did for us, or we’re not going to take it very seriously, and it can slip away. If you don’t care about it—if you’ve inherited some great work of art that is worth a fortune and you don’t know that it’s worth a fortune, you don’t even know that it’s a great work of art and you’re not interested in it—you’re going to lose it.
The textbooks are dreary, they’re done by committee, they’re often hilariously politically correct and they’re not doing any good.
We’ve got to teach history and nurture history and encourage history because it’s an antidote to the hubris of the present...
We should never look down on those people and say that they should have known better. What do you think they’re going to be saying about us in the future? They’re going to be saying we should have known better.
They talk about what a difficult, dangerous time we live in. And it is very difficult, very dangerous and very uncertain. But so it has always been. And this nation of ours has been through darker times. And if you don’t know that—as so many who broadcast the news and subject us to their opinions in the press don’t seem to know—that’s because we’re failing in our understanding of history.
If you came in to a movie in the last 15 minutes would you have a clue as to what is going on you're in the last 15 minutes of history hours of history have taken place before you you can't possibly understand the movie if you don't know what happened before the last 15 minutes it's as simple literally as simple as that the ignorance is astonishing.
Today is to indoctrinate not educate I'm sure you know a great deal about carbon emissions but if you know about carbon emissions and not Stalin that is one perverted form of Education that's indoctrination not education
You Don't rewrite history by taking down statues.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
To respond with patience means that we recognize that revealed truth often comes slowly, line upon line, and so we must be patient with those prophets from the past who did not have the greater light and knowledge that God has revealed to us. They were still waiting and praying for what we have already received. In addition, the scriptures teach that false cultural traditions can actually take away light and give us spiritual blind spots that make it difficult to perceive a cultural evil all around us (D&C 93:39). Rather than be offended by this, we should be patient with them and grateful for the light that we have. Otherwise it is like standing on your dad’s shoulders and then criticizing him for not being able to see as far as you can.
We may not make history but we are made by history.
Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.
The human family has not yet come out of the woods. We were more barbarian, we are still barbarians. Sometimes in the past we shot ahead, in certain ways, ahead of where we are now. We gave flashes of what is possible in man. We have yet as a body to come up to the art of living.
The more you know about past , the better prepared you are for the future.
Once you believe that any figure in history who once owned slaves is illegitimate and should be erased, it’s hard to take our founding documents very seriously. How can you accept a Bill of Rights when it was written by slave owners? You can’t. Which is why so many on the left don’t — and ignore the First and Second Amendments, among many others. That was the point we were trying to make. You may disagree but it didn’t seem crazy or mean spirited.
...man considers only the stubble field of transitoriness and overlooks the full granaries of the past wherein he had salvaged once and for all his deeds...
To be sure, people tend to see only the stubble fields of transitoriness but overlook and forget the full granaries of the past into which they have brought the harvest of their lives: the deeds done, the loves loved, and last but not least, the sufferings they have gone through with courage and dignity.