A Quote by Herbert Butterfield

The task of the historian is to understand the peoples of the past better than they understand themselves. — © Herbert Butterfield
The task of the historian is to understand the peoples of the past better than they understand themselves.
I have spent most of my life studying the lives of other peoples - faraway peoples - so that Americans might better understand themselves.
The function off the historian is neither to love the past nor to emancipate himself from the past, but to master and understand it as the key to the understanding of the present.
In the case of complex personalities the matter stands thus: one of these can understand other men better than they can understand themselves, because within himself he has not only the character he is grasping, but also its opposite. Duality is necessary for observation and comprehension.
I want to help people understand themselves a little bit better, to stop being so critical and judgmental of themselves, and to help them understand why they are going through some of the difficult things in their lives.
I think more to the point, these pivotal times means something other than a politician. I understand the economy. I understand the world. I have a lot of foreign policy experience. I understand bureaucracies. I understand technology, and I understand leadership.
Go out there and play hard, understand your teammates, understand the other team's gameplan, understand your coaches' philosophies and what they want you to do. There's nothing better than showing, though; more than talking, you have to make your actions speak louder than words.
I have the greatest sympathy with the growth of the socialist party. I think they understand the evils that surround us and hammer them into peoples minds better than we Liberals.
Most artists don't understand what they do, and I don't think we have to. Other people do that better - they understand what I do better than I do!
Great music is just very clear. Sonically and lyrically, you understand the point of view, you understand the melodies, you understand the vibe, and you understand the lyric pretty damn quickly. To me, that doesn't make it 'less than' - it makes it 'more than.'
Fascinating, often hilarious, always devastatingly truthful, The Inconvenient Indian is destined to become a classic of historical narrative. For those who wish to better understand Native peoples, it is a must read. For those who don't wish to understand, it is even more so.
You simply can't understand the present if you don't understand the past. There is no more alarming case study of the consequences of historical ignorance than President Trump.
...you realize that you don't understand yourself any better than you understand anyone else.
Freedom of expression is actually a way for people to know themselves better, and to understand themselves better. Because without it, you become a stranger to yourself.
The duty of a historian is simply to understand and then convey that understanding, no more than that.
There's branches of science which I don't understand; for example, physics. It could be said, I suppose, that I have faith that physicists understand it better than I do.
We should understand well that all things are the work of the Great Spirit. We should know the Great Spirit is within all things: the trees, the grasses, the rivers, the mountains, and the four-legged and winged peoples; and even more important, we should understand that the Great Spirit is also above all these things and peoples. When we do understand all this deeply in our hearts, then we will fear, and love, and know the Great Spirit, and then we will be and act and live as the Spirit intends.
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