Alan Clark
British politician (1928-1999)
Jacques Barzun
French-born American historian (1907-2012)
Jacques Martin Barzunwas a French-born American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, and classical music, and was also known as a philosopher of education.
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About the Jacques Barzun
Jacques Martin Barzunwas a French-born American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, and classical music, and was also known as a philosopher of education. In the book Teacher in America (1945), Barzun influenced the training of schoolteachers in the United States.
A professor of history at Columbia College for many years, he published more than forty books, was awarded the American Presidential Medal of Freedom, and was designated a knight of the French Legion of Honor. The historical retrospective From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present (2000), widely considered his magnum opus, was published when he was 93 years old.
21 Quotes by Jacques Barzun
- 1.
Except among those whose education has been in the minimalist style, it is understood that hasty moral judgments about the past are a form of injustice.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 2.
Of course, clothing fashions have always been impractical, except in Tahiti.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 3.
If it were possible to talk to the unborn, one could never explain to them how it feels to be alive, for life is washed in the speechless real.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 4.
The test and the use of man’s education is that he finds pleasure in the exercise of his mind.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 5.
A man who has both feet planted firmly in the air can be safely called a liberal as opposed to the conservative, who has both feet firmly planted in his mouth.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 6.
Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game – and do it by watching first some high school or small-town teams.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 7.
The intellectuals’ chief cause of anguish are one another’s works.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 8.
Idealism springs from deep feelings, but feelings are nothing without the formulated idea that keeps them whole.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 9.
Only a great mind that is overthrown yields tragedy.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 10.
Since it is seldom clear whether intellectual activity denotes a superior mode of being or a vital deficiency, opinion swings between considering intellect a privilege and seeing it as a handicap.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 11.
In any assembly the simplest way to stop transacting business and split the ranks is to appeal to a principal.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 12.
Great cultural changes begin in affectation and end in routine.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 13.
It seems a long time since the morning mail could be called correspondence.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 14.
An artist has every right – one may even say a duty – to exhibit his productions as prominently as he can.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 15.
Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 16.
Art distills sensation and embodies it with enhanced meaning in a memorable form – or else it is not art.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 17.
If civilization has risen from the Stone Age, it can rise again from the Wastepaper Age.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 18.
Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 19.
In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day’s work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 20.
Music is intended and designed for sentient beings that have hopes and purposes and emotions.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)
- 21.
The danger that may really threaten (crime fiction) is that soon there will be more writers than readers.
Jacques BarzunFrench-born American historian (1907-2012)