All Quotes by Theodore Zeldin
“When two people talk with mutual respect and listen with a real interest in understanding another point of view, when they try to put themselves in the place of another, to get inside their skin, they change the world, even if it is only by a minute amount, because they are establishing equality between two human beings.”
“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.”
“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.”
“We cannot change public life until we have changed private life.”
“The main purpose of engaging in conversation can no longer be personal advancement or respectability. Instead, I'd like for us to use conversations to create equality, to open ourselves to strangers, and, most practically, to remake our working world.”
“The past is what provides us with the building blocks. Our job today is to create new buildings out of them.”
“The violent have been victorious for most of history because they kindled the fear with which everyone is born.”
“Even Gandhi, with all his charisma, did not "melt the hearts" of his oppressors, as he had hoped. After softening, hearts harden again. Asoka too was wrong to think that he was changing the course of history, and that his righteousness would last "as long as the sun and the moon."”
“It takes a long time for people to recognize their soul-mates when they have too limited an idea of who they are themselves.”
“No history of the world can be complete which does not mention Mary Helen Keller... whose overcoming of her blindness and deafness were arguably victories more important than those of Alexander the Great, because they have implications still for every living person.”
“I'm constantly astounded by the way people talk so openly to someone they don't know. They clarify in their own minds what is important to them, discover another person has similar problems, and create trust and even a friendship.”