We must learn to read the texts of history as they were mean... - Quentin Skinner

"We must learn to read the texts of history as they were meant to be read, not as we wish them to have been written."

Quentin Skinner Knowledge

Historian Philosopher British Born 1940 (age 86)

More from Quentin Skinner

"The past is not dead; it is not even past."

"Ideas have consequences, and the historian's task is to trace them."

"We must understand the languages in which the past speaks to us."

"The study of history is the study of human possibility."

"We're not just after treasure. We're preserving history."

"The mind is humanity's greatest tool."

"A tidy room reflects a tidy mind."

"You can learn a lot about a person by how they keep their space."