quote · Legacy record
The poetry of history lies in the quasi-miraculous fact that once, on this earth, once, on this familiar spot of ground, walked other men and women, as actual as we are today, thinking their own thoughts, swayed by their own passions, but now all gone, one generation vanishing into another, gone as utterly as we ourselves shall shortly be gone, like ghosts at cockcrow.
The poetry of history lies in the quasi-miraculous fact that once, on this earth, once, on this familiar spot of ground, walked other men and women, as actual as we are today, thinking their own thoughts, swayed by their own passions, but now all gone, one generation vanishing into another, gone as utterly as we ourselves shall shortly be gone, like ghosts at cockcrow.
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- G. M. Trevelyan
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Historical period not yet established
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- Contributor-provided quotation collection
Supplied reference C; CSV row 341474; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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