An Intimate History of Humanity Quotes

“life could have been different if the meetings which have decided its course had been less silent, superficial or routine, if more thoughts had been exchanged, if humanity had been more able to show itself in them”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“...literature must always be about gloom of one sort or another, on the principal that there is nothing interesting to be said about happy people.”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“Each civilization, each nation, each family, each profession, each sex and each class has its own history. Humans have so far been interested mainly in their own private roots, and have therefore never claimed the whole of the inheritance into which they were born, the legacy of everybody’s past experience. Each generation searches only for what it thinks it lacks, and recognizes only what it knows already.”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“The Renaissance… was based on a new idea of the importance of the individual. But this was a fragile foundation, because individuals depended on constant applause and admiration to sustain them. There is a shortage of applause in the world, and there is not enough respect to go around.”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“The fear of loneliness has been like a ball and chain restraining ambition, as much of an obstacle to a full life as persecution, discrimination or poverty. Until the chain is broken, freedom, for many, will remain a nightmare.”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“...literature must always be about gloom of one sort or another, on the principle that there is nothing interesting to be said about happy people.”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“Everybody’s style of speaking is a mixture of echoes dating from different epochs of the past: hers recalls the prudent and modest civil servants of the last century who were proud that they represented the state and who took care not to compromise themselves by saying the wrong thing.”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“television wears away the capacity to be astonished’.”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“Самой давней целью человечества было воспроизводство человечества в бóльших объемах. Когда-то это означало иметь как можно больше детей. Но со временем важнее стало не количество
детей, а проявляемая к ним доброта. Сегодня идеал человечества —
это прежде всего идеал человечности, заботы и доброты, актуальный на все времена и для каждого живого существа. Первые отголоски этого исторического сдвига звучали много веков назад,
но сейчас он охватил значительную часть мира.”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“A new way of looking is needed in a world which believes that every individual has a right to flower, within limits, in his or her own way.”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“Everything that is remembered about the past is washed, and often drowned, in nostalgia, pride, illusions and passions of all kinds.”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“The vast majority of scientists devote a large part of their efforts to writing articles which are never read.”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“My heart is open to all the winds: It is a pasture for gazelles And a home for Christian monks, A temple for idols, The Black Stone of the Mecca pilgrim, The table of the Torah, And the book of the Koran. Mine is the religion of love. Wherever God’s caravans turn, The religion of love Shall be my religion And my faith.”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“I have chosen to write about women, because I am not one myself, and because I have always preferred to write about subjects which do not tempt me to be so arrogant as to believe that I can ever fully understand them, but above all because many women seem to me to be looking at life with fresh eyes, and their autobiographies, in various forms, are the most original part of contemporary literature”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity

“And what does Juliette think about at work? ‘Why, nothing. At work I don’t think, or I think about my saucepans.’ Work is relaxation from home.”
― Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity