Writing history is like drinking an ocean and pissing a cupful.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Writing history is impossible because the vast amount of information cannot be fully captured.
- In plain terms
- History is too big to be fully written down.
- What can you take from it?
- Historical records are always incomplete.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What gets left out of history books?
- How do you decide what to remember?
Another view
Some histories are well documented and useful.
More from Gustave Flaubert
The faster the word sticks to the thought, the more beautiful is the effect.
Permalink to quote #96 The more humanity advances, the more it is degraded.
Permalink to quote #98 My deplorable mania for analysis exhausts me. I doubt everything, even my doubt.
Permalink to quote #95
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