A writer-editor-teacher’s quote of the week 189

When broadly based on a good knowledge of Western European history (including that of the the United State), the historical sense is a comforter and a guide. The possessor understands his neighbors, his government, and the limitations of mankind much better. He knows more clearly not what is the desirable, but what is possible. He becomes “practical” in the lasting sense of being taken in neither by panicky fears nor by second-rate Utopias. It is always some illusion that creates disillusion, especially in the young, for whom the only alternative to perfection is cynicism. The historical sense is a preventative against both extremes.

from the chapter “Clio: A Muse” in Jacques Barzun’s Teacher in America

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