The history of the Victorian Age will never be written: we know too much about it. For ignorance is the first requisite of the historian - ignorance, which simplifies and clarifies, which selects and omits, with a placid perfection unattainable by the highest art.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- True historical understanding is impossible because too much detail exists; ignorance allows for clearer, simpler narratives.
- In plain terms
- You can't write perfect history because we know too much; you need to not know things to make a clear story.
- What can you take from it?
- Historical clarity often requires selective ignorance rather than total knowledge.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is simplicity worth the cost of truth?
- Can history ever be complete?
Another view
It glorifies ignorance which can lead to misleading histories.
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