To read against the grain of tradition is often to discover ... - Quentin Skinner

"To read against the grain of tradition is often to discover what earlier thinkers were really arguing about beneath surface agreements."

Quentin Skinner Courage

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."

"Never let fear stop you from chasing your dreams."

"Courage is being afraid but doing it anyway."

"Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do."

"Sometimes you have to be the monster to stop the monsters."