Any bull market covers a multitude of sins, so there may be all sorts of problems with the current system that we won't see until the bear market comes.
Ron ChernowRead
Strange as it may seem, George Washington's life has now been so minutely documented that we know far more about him than did his own friends, family, and contemporaries.
Interpretation
George Washington's life is extensively documented, revealing more about him than what his closest associates knew.
This quote emphasizes the idea that the detailed records and studies of George Washington's life have surpassed the knowledge and understanding of even those who were closest to him during his lifetime. It illustrates how time allows for a deeper insight into historical figures through research and documentation, highlighting the contrast between contemporary understanding and what can later be discovered.
In practice
In a lecture on historical figures, one could use this quote to illustrate the importance of documentation.
Any bull market covers a multitude of sins, so there may be all sorts of problems with the current system that we won't see until the bear market comes.
The story of Alexander Hamilton lends itself to hip-hop treatment. Hamilton's personality is driven and unrelenting, and the music has that same quality. The music and the man mirror each other.
Reconstruction is the great black hole that remains to be filled. Even experts on the Civil War don't really understand its full significance.
When you're a biographer, you want to explore the very things that your subject didn't care to talk about.
When the market is just going up, up, and up, we all tend to be blind to the holes in the market. They're all papered over by the rise.
I find that when I come upon something that I think is a historical revelation, I have the sort of adrenaline rush that I imagine a gambler gets in Las Vegas when he hits the jackpot. It's still tremendously exciting to me, and I think all of my peers in the business feel the same way.
...They cannot escape their history any more than you yourself can lose your shadow.
I understood when I was quite small that there were two special things about the Jews. That we'd endured for over 3,000 years despite everything that had been thrown at us, and that we had an extraordinarily dramatic story to tell.
The evil of slavery and colonialism was that these oppressions kept their victims out of history, disconnected them from the evolutionary struggle.
History knows no scruples and no hesitation. Inert and unnering flows towards her goal. History knows herway. She makes no mistakes.
Like the attack on Pearl Harbor, another hinge event in American history, 9/11 was a great tactical victory for America's enemies. But in both these cases, the tactical success of the attacks was not matched by strategic victories. Quite the reverse.
Palestine is our unforgettable historic home. The very name would be a force of marvelous potency for summoning our people together.
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