The strange power of art is sometimes it can show that what people have in common is more urgent than what differentiates them. It seems to me it's something that theatre can do, but it's rare; it's very rare.
John BergerRead
History always constitutes the relation between a present and its past. Consequently fear of the present leads to mystification of the past
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the connection between our current experiences and historical events, suggesting that fear can distort our understanding of the past.
John Berger's quote emphasizes the intricate relationship between the present and the past, indicating that our perceptions of history are often influenced by our current fears and anxieties. When individuals or societies are fearful of their present circumstances, they may romanticize or distort their understanding of history, leading to a misunderstanding of past events and their significance. This observation encourages a critical examination of how our emotions and experiences shape our interpretations of history.
Themes
HistoryFearPresentPastMystificationUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a history class discussing how current events shape our interpretations of past eras.
More from John Berger
All quotes βUnlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.
John BergerRead
We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.
John BergerRead
The camera relieves us of the burden of memory. It surveys us like God, and it surveys for us. Yet no other god has been so cynical, for the camera records in order to forget.
John BergerRead
Propaganda requires a permanent network of communication so that it can systematically stifle reflection with emotive or utopian slogans. Its pace is usually fast.
John BergerRead
Being a unique superpower undermines the military intelligence of strategy. To think strategically, one has to imagine oneself in the enemy's place. If one cannot do this, it is impossible to foresee, to take by surprise, to outflank. Misinterpreting an enemy can lead to defeat. This is how empires fall.
John BergerRead
Similar quotes
I'll tell you something of the forbidden horrors she led me into - something of the age-old horrors that even now are festering in out-of-the-way corners with a few monstrous priests to keep them alive. Some people know things about the universe that nobody ought to know, and can do things that nobody ought to be able to do.
H. P. LovecraftRead
When an individual is kept in a situation of inferiority, the fact is that he does become inferior.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
If one sticks too rigidly to one's principles, one would hardly see anybody.
Agatha ChristieRead
Keep things at arm's length... If you let anything come too near you want to hold on to it. And there is nothing a man can hold on to.
Erich Maria RemarqueRead
Why, this hath not a finger's dignity.
William ShakespeareRead
The universe is so immense that it appears immutable, and that the duration of a planet such as that of the earth is only a chapter, less than that, a phrase, less still, only a word of the universeβs history.
Camille FlammarionRead