“If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree.”

Variant: Professor Johnston often said that if you didn't know history, you didn't know anything. You were a leaf that didn't know it was part of a tree.
Source: Timeline

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree." by Michael Crichton?
Michael Crichton photo
Michael Crichton 121
American author, screenwriter, film producer 1942–2008

Related quotes

Joanne B. Freeman photo

“If you don't know your history, you don't know who you are. Holds true for nations too.”

Joanne B. Freeman (1962) US historian and tenured professor of History and American Studies at Yale University

Twitter (17 Oct 2017) https://twitter.com/jbf1755/status/920253923209904128

Sam Harris photo

“You don't get anything worth getting by pretending to know things you don't know.”

Sam Harris (1967) American author, philosopher and neuroscientist

Sam Harris, Big Think Sam Harris On Death http://bigthink.com/ideas/3127 (July 4, 2007)
2000s
Context: We just don’t teach people how to grieve. You know, religion is the epitome, the antithesis of teaching your children how to grieve. You tell your child that, “Grandma is in heaven”, and there’s nothing to be sad about. That’s religion. It would be better to equip your child for the reality of this life, which is, you know, we... death is a fact. And we don’t know what happens after death. And I’m not pretending to know that you get a dial tone after death. I don’t know what happens after the physical brain dies. I don’t know what the relationship between consciousness and the physical world is. I don’t think anyone does know. Now I think there are many reasons to be doubtful of naïve conceptions about the soul, and about this idea that you could just migrate to a better place after death. But I simply don’t know about what... I don’t know what I believe about death. And I don’t think it’s necessary to know in order to live as sanely and ethically and happily as possible. I don’t think you get... You don't get anything worth getting by pretending to know things you don't know.

Umberto Eco photo
Toni Morrison photo
Joseph Smith, Jr. photo

“You don't know me; you never knew my heart. No man knows my history.”

Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805–1844) American religious leader and the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement

History of the Church 6:317 (7 April 1844)
1840s, King Follett discourse (1844)
Context: You don't know me; you never knew my heart. No man knows my history. I cannot tell it: I shall never undertake it. I don't blame any one for not believing my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I could not have believed it myself.... When I am called by the trump of the archangel and weighed in the balance, you will all know me then.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor photo

“You don't have to be part of a couple to be happy, you know.”

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (1933) American children's writer

Source: Alice Alone

Sam Cooke photo
Abraham Pais photo

“One of the absolute rules I learned in the war was, don't know anything you don't need to know, because if you ever get caught they will get it out of you.”

Abraham Pais (1918–2000) American Physicist

Source: To Save a Life: Stories of Holocaust Rescue (2000), p. 50

Harry Truman photo

“The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know.”

Harry Truman (1884–1972) American politician, 33rd president of the United States (in office from 1945 to 1953)

As quoted in Plain Speaking : An Oral Biography of Harry S Truman (1974) by Merle Miller, p. 26

Elvis Presley photo

Related topics