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What we make of people, and what we see in the mirror when we look at ourselves, depends on what we know of the world, what we believe to be possible, what memories we have, and whether our loyalties are to the past, the present or the future.

Theodore Zeldin

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Theodore Zeldin
Age: 91
Born: 1933
Born: August 22
Historian
Sociologist
University Teacher
British Mandate for Palestine
Looks
Depends
Believe
Memories
Make
Present
Life
Possible
World
Whether
Loyalties
People
Future
Loyalty
Past
Mirror
Look
Mirrors

More quotes by Theodore Zeldin

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The French have made conversation their claim to civilisation.
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The English reputation for humour is a way by which people avoid revealing themselves and have superficial relationships, so that you can engage in banter without making yourself vulnerable.
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The kind of conversation I like is one in which you are prepared to emerge a slightly different person.
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All invention and progress comes from finding a link between two ideas that have never met.
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Each person is an enigma. You're a puzzle not only to yourself but also to everyone else, and the great mystery of our time is how we penetrate this puzzle.
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The past is what provides us with the building blocks. Our job today is to create new buildings out of them.
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Art is, nowadays, our new religion and museums are our cathedrals.
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People in this world of superficial communication find themselves isolated and lonely and have difficult in talking about personal things that really matter to them.
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To be a catalyst is the ambition most appropriate for those who see the world as being in constant change, and who, without thinking that they can control it, wish to influence its direction.
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The violent have been victorious for most of history because they kindled the fear with which everyone is born.
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When will we make the same breakthroughs in the way we treat each other as we have made in technology?
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Breaking accepted rules does bring people together.
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Conversation creates a new kind of network within organizations. Current networks are used for competitive advantage, but conversation is focused on encouraging people to realize their potential.
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To idolise a person means you don't get to know them, and the idea that you can become one is a myth, and it also means that you don't need to talk to one another because you're the same person.
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Only when people learn to converse will they begin to be equal.
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The British have turned their sense of humour into a national virtue. It is odd, because through much of history, humour has been considered cheap, and laughter something for the lower orders. But British aristocrats didn't care a damn about what people thought of them, so they made humour acceptable.
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The institution of marriage, if you look at it over many centuries, has come and gone.
Theodore Zeldin