“For one who stands by the seashore on a stormy day, it is not easy to discern the moment when the tide turns. So in the historical process it is hard for the contemporary student to recognise the signs of a new age. At periods of transition the attention of mankind is diverted by the ebb and flow of the waves of culture and decay from an almost imperceptible change of direction which may be occurring in the course of human destiny. That which will be significant in the perspective of millennia is hidden from those who fix their gaze only upon the fluctuations of current events. The time span of immediate interest is very short for the average man, and the historian, whose profession is to see the process objectively, is usually dominated by the modes of thought that are fashionable in his own time.”
~ JG Bennett
[Thanks Ian Sanders]
