Both of these positions, inevitability and eternity, are antihistorical. The only thing that stands between them is history itself. History allows us to see patterns and make judgments. It sketches for us the structures within which we can seek freedom. It reveals moments, of each of them different, none entirely unique. To understand one moment is to see the possibility of being the cocreator of another. History permits us to be responsible: not for everything, but for something. The Polish poet Czesaw Miosz thought that such a notion of responsibility worked against loneliness and indifference. History gives us the company of those who have done and suffered more than we have.
politics tyranny

About This Quote

About Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.

Themes

  • Politics — Governance, civic duty, and the structures of power

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