Edmund Morgan famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

History at its best is vicarious experience.
-- Edmund Morgan

#History #Vicarious
A historian should not be didactic-that is a word that makes my blood run cold.
-- Edmund Morgan

#Running #Blood #Cold
The British government had not engaged in any serious actual oppression of the colonies before 1774, but it had claimed powers not granted by the governed, powers that made oppression possible, powers that it began to exercise in 1774 in response to colonial denial of them. The Revolution came about not to overthrow tyranny, but to prevent it.
-- Edmund Morgan

#Exercise #Government #History
I made a point of always teaching undergraduates because they are not a captive audience. . . . I always tried out my research ideas first in the classroom to get feedback from people who didn't have to listen to me if I didn't make it interesting.
-- Edmund Morgan

#Teaching #Ideas #People
Children whose curiosity survives parental discipline and who manage to grow up before they blow up are invited to join the Yale faculty. Within the university they go on asking their questions and trying to find the answers ... it is a place where the world's hostility to curiosity can be defied.
-- Edmund Morgan

#Children #Growing Up #Men

If the English language had been properly organized ... then there would be a word which meant both 'he' and 'she', and I could write, 'If John or Mary comes heesh will want to play tennis', which would save a lot of trouble.
History is not a catalogue but...a convincing version of events.
Freedom does not always win. This is one of the bitterest lessons of history.
History is a great deal closer to poetry than is generally realised: in truth, I think, it is in essence the same.
It is hard to think of anything which more tragically and clearly exemplifies the phenomenon of good political intentions achieving the precise opposite of their aim.
We, while noting many things amiss about Victorian society, more often sense them judging us.
The past actually happened. History is what someone took the time to write down.
Napster's only alleged liability is for contributory or vicarious infringement. So when Napster's users engage in noncommercial sharing of music, is that activity copyright infringement? No.
History at its best is vicarious experience.
There is no such thing as vicarious experience.

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