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One cannot launch a new history — the idea is altogether unthinkable; there would not be the continuity and tradition. Tradition cannot be contrived or learned. In its absence one has, at the best, not history but ‘progress’ — the mechanical movement of a clock hand, not the sacred succession of interlinked events.

One cannot launch a new history — the idea is altogether unthinkable; there would not be the continuity and tradition. Tradition cannot be contrived or learned. In its absence one has, at the best, not history but ‘progress’ — the mechanical movement of a clock hand, not the sacred succession of interlinked events.

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
Osip Mandelstam
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Historical period not yet established
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Recorded source
Contributor-provided quotation collection

Supplied reference C; CSV row 104508; supplied attribution, independently unverified

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.