“The past was neither as good nor as bad as we suppose: it was just different. If we tell ourselves nostalgic stories, we shall never engage the problems that face us in the present—and the same is true if we fondly suppose that our own world is better in every way. The past really is another country: we cannot go back. However, there is something worse than idealizing the past—or presenting it to ourselves and our children as a chamber of horrors: forgetting it.”

— Tony Judt

Ill Fares the Land (2010), Ch. 2 : The World We Have Lost

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Tony Judt 37

British historian 1948–2010

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