6 Quotes & Sayings By Edward Hallett Carr

Edward Hallett Carr (1883-1948), British historian and writer, was one of the founders of modern architectural history. He studied at Oxford and was a Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford from 1914 to 1923. He was a proponent of the 'new Historicism' that arose in the 1920s and 1930s and is best known for his analysis of the role that symbols play in architecture. His most influential work, The New History of Architecture: From the Eighteenth Century to Modernism (1935), contains an analysis and interpretation of architecture's symbolism Read more

His other books include The Gothic Quest (1938), The Idea of Progress (1939), The Roman Empire (1942), and The Roman Empire: A Historical Essay (1945).

1
History is the long struggle of man, by exercise of his reason, to understand his environment and to act upon it. But the modern period has broadened the struggle in a revolutionary way. Man now seeks to understand, and act on, not only his environment, but himself; and this has added, so to speak, a new dimension to reason and a new dimension to history. Edward Hallett Carr
2
Study the historian before you begin to study the facts. Edward Hallett Carr
3
Progress in human affairs, whether in science or in history or in society, has come mainly through the bold readiness of human beings not to confine themselves to seeking piecemeal improvements in the way things are done, but to present fundamental challenges in the name of reason to the current way of doing things and to the avowed or hidden assumptions on which it rests Edward Hallett Carr
4
Good historians...have the future in their bones Edward Hallett Carr
5
If we can widen the range of experiences beyond what we as individuals have encountered, if we can draw upon the experiences of others who've had to confront comparable situations in the past, then - although there are no guarantees - our chances of acting wisely should increase proportionately. Edward Hallett Carr