Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- People shape history, but they are constrained by past conditions they inherit.
- In plain terms
- History is made by people, yet they work within inherited circumstances.
- What can you take from it?
- Recognize that current choices are limited by historical context.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do past conditions shape present options?
- Can we change inherited structures?
Another view
It may understate individual agency.
More from Karl Marx
Hegel remarks somewhere that history tends to repeat itself. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.
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Permalink to quote #13 The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.
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