J. H. Plumb Quotes & Sayings

The past has always been the handmaid of authority. — J. H. Plumb

Whether we like it or not, quantification in history is here to stay for reasons which the quantifiers themselves might not actively approve. We are becoming a numerate society: almost instinctively there seems now to be a greater degree of truth in evidence expressed numerically than in any literary evidence, no matter how shaky the statistical evidence, or acute the observing eye. — J. H. Plumb

History is now strictly organized, powerfully disciplined, but it possesses only a modest educational value and even less conscious social purpose. — J. H. Plumb