Another thought for the day!Since we're talking about History, I thought I'd post this piece of light verse. It's found on p. 130 of David Hackett Fischer's invaluable work,
Historians' Fallacies, but it's not clear who penned it. Probably him.
Historians, rather like primitive moles,
Live purposeless lives in particular holes,
Which they dig with their noses, or else with their toeses
(A few have invented small shovels and hoeses).
They're burrowing blindly in Byzantine tunnels
Constructed like sinous serpentine funnels;
They're burrowing busily, back to the past:
A steady regression to nowhere -- fast.
Brilliant. Although, to be fair, not applicable to all -- just most -- historians working today.
Posted by kungfuzi at 1:18 am |
