Edward Hallett Carr Quotes

History is the long struggle of man, by exercise of his reason, to understand his environment and to act upon it. But the modern period has broadened the struggle in a revolutionary way. Man now seeks to understand, and act on, not only his environment, but himself; and this has added, so to speak, a new dimension to reason and a new dimension to history.

~ Edward Hallett Carr

Study the historian before you begin to study the facts.

~ Edward Hallett Carr

Progress in human affairs, whether in science or in history or in society, has come mainly through the bold readiness of human beings not to confine themselves to seeking piecemeal improvements in the way things are done, but to present fundamental challenges in the name of reason to the current way of doing things and to the avowed or hidden assumptions on which it rests

~ Edward Hallett Carr

Good historians...have the future in their bones

~ Edward Hallett Carr

The historian without his facts is rootless and futile, the facts without their historian are dead and meaningless.

~ Edward Hallett Carr

If we can widen the range of experiences beyond what we as individuals have encountered, if we can draw upon the experiences of others who've had to confront comparable situations in the past, then - although there are no guarantees - our chances of acting wisely should increase proportionately.

~ Edward Hallett Carr