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Christian Lous Lange Quotes

Powerful Christian Lous Lange for Daily Growth

About Christian Lous Lange

Christian Lous Lange (1869-1938), a prominent Norwegian historian, librarian, and academic, was born on March 15, 1869, in Voss, Norway. His father, Peder Lange, was a schoolteacher, while his mother, Ingeborg Marie Louise Holmsen, was a teacher as well. The early influence of his parents' intellectual environment significantly shaped Lange's future endeavors. Lange graduated from the Royal Frederick University (now known as the University of Oslo) in 1894 and pursued further studies at the University of Leipzig, Germany, under the tutelage of renowned historian Heinrich von Treitschke. This experience broadened his historical perspective, fostering a lifelong interest in comparative history and international relations. In 1896, Lange returned to Norway and began working as a librarian at the University Library in Oslo. During this time, he also started teaching modern European history, eventually becoming a professor of historical methodology in 1905. His academic career culminated with his appointment as Rector of the University of Oslo from 1927 to 1938. Lange's major works include "The History of the Peace Movement in Germany from the Congress of Vienna to the Present Time" (1895) and "Historical Methodology" (1903). His most significant contribution, however, was the development of documentary sources for historical research through his role as a founder of the modern peace movement. In 1924, Lange was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his work on the Institute of Pacific Relations and his efforts to promote international cooperation and understanding. Lange's life and works significantly influenced the fields of history, library science, and diplomacy, leaving a lasting legacy in promoting peace and academic research. He passed away on July 16, 1938, in Oslo. His contributions are commemorated annually by the Christian Lous Lange Memorial Lecture at the University of Minnesota's Library.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"History is not a laboratory from which examples are selected for use in the present; it is a treasure-house for the education and culture of the mind."

This quote by Christian Lous Lange suggests that history should not be viewed solely as a resource for practical application in the present, but rather as a rich repository of knowledge that cultivates our minds. Instead of using history as a tool to select examples for immediate use, we should value it for the wisdom and understanding it provides about our past, which in turn enriches our intellectual growth and cultural development.

"The historian's task, then, consists in the selection of certain facts and their arrangement into a coherent picture."

This quote by Christian Lous Lange underscores the essential role of a historian in shaping our understanding of history. By selecting and arranging facts, historians transform raw data into a comprehensive narrative. This process involves not only gathering and analyzing information but also deciding which details are most significant and revealing, and how to present them for maximum clarity and impact. In essence, the quote highlights the active, creative role of historians in constructing historical accounts that make sense of the past for future generations.

"To understand the present we must first know the past."

The quote emphasizes that a fundamental aspect of comprehending the current situation requires knowledge of the past events, contexts, and patterns. Essentially, understanding the present is a process that involves learning from the past, as it provides valuable insights, lessons, and perspectives. Without this historical background, our interpretations of the present may be incomplete or skewed, limiting our ability to make informed decisions and navigate complex realities effectively.

"History is not merely something to be read. It is living and it has to be lived."

Christian Lous Lange's quote, "History is not merely something to be read. It is living and it has to be lived," emphasizes that history isn't just a static collection of facts or events, but an ongoing narrative that shapes and influences our present and future. In other words, history is about understanding the past to better navigate the present and create the future we desire. This quote encourages us to engage actively with history, not as passive observers, but as participants who can learn from the past, apply those lessons in our lives today, and build a more meaningful tomorrow.

"The historian is not an observer, but an actor, in the grand drama of life."

This quote by Christian Lous Lange emphasizes that historians don't just passively observe or record events; they actively engage with history. Historians aren't mere observers in a detached sense, but are involved in the narrative, interpreting, analyzing, and sometimes shaping our understanding of the past. They play an essential role in bringing historical events to life by providing context, asking questions, and guiding us through the complexities of history.

All species capable of grasping this fact manage better in the struggle for existence than those which rely upon their own strength alone: the wolf, which hunts in a pack, has a greater chance of survival than the lion, which hunts alone.

- Christian Lous Lange

Strength, Fact, Own, Rely

The main concept is that of an international solidarity expressed in practice through worldwide division of labor: free trade is the principal point in the program of internationalism.

- Christian Lous Lange

Practice, Through, Concept, Worldwide

Hand in hand with nationalist economic isolationism, militarism struggles to maintain the sovereign state against the forward march of internationalism.

- Christian Lous Lange

Maintain, Sovereign State, Isolationism

The simultaneous reactions elicited all over the world by the reading of newspaper dispatches about the same events create, as it were, a common mental pulse beat for the whole of civilized mankind.

- Christian Lous Lange

Newspaper, Over, Civilized, Simultaneous

Concord, solidarity, and mutual help are the most important means of enabling animal species to survive.

- Christian Lous Lange

Survive, Enabling, Means, Concord

Internationalism is a community theory of society which is founded on economic, spiritual, and biological facts. It maintains that respect for a healthy development of human society and of world civilization requires that mankind be organized internationally.

- Christian Lous Lange

Development, Mankind, Which, Human Society

Internationalism is a social and political theory, a certain concept of how human society ought to be organized, and in particular a concept of how the nations ought to organize their mutual relations.

- Christian Lous Lange

Social, Internationalism, Human Society

On the contrary. Internationalism also recognizes, by its very name, that nations do exist. It simply limits their scope more than one-sided nationalism does.

- Christian Lous Lange

More, Very, Also, Internationalism

It is against this concept of the sovereign state, a state isolated by protectionism and militarism, that internationalism must now engage in decisive battle.

- Christian Lous Lange

Against, Sovereign State, Internationalism

Internationalism on the other hand admits that spiritual achievements have their roots deep in national life; from this national consciousness art and literature derive their character and strength and on it even many of the humanistic sciences are firmly based.

- Christian Lous Lange

Deep, Other, Firmly, Internationalism

Like all social theories, internationalism must seek its basis in the economic and technical fields; here are to be found the most profound and the most decisive factors in the development of society.

- Christian Lous Lange

Development, Here, Technical, Internationalism

For the state by its nature claims sovereignty, the right to an unlimited development of power, determined only by self-interest. It is by nature anarchistic.

- Christian Lous Lange

Nature, Development, Sovereignty

Within each such social group, a feeling of solidarity prevails, a compelling need to work together and a joy in doing so that represent a high moral value.

- Christian Lous Lange

Doing, Within, Social, Work Together

Just as characteristic, perhaps, is the intellectual interdependence created through the development of the modern media of communication: post, telegraph, telephone, and popular press.

- Christian Lous Lange

Development, Through, Interdependence

The theoretically unrestricted right to develop power, to wage war against other states, is antisocial and is doubly dangerous, because the state as a mass entity represents a low moral and intellectual level.

- Christian Lous Lange

Other, Against, Level, Theoretically

A pacifist will often - at least nowadays - be an internationalist and vice versa. But history shows us that a pacifist need not think internationally.

- Christian Lous Lange

Think, Will, Vice, Internationally

The idea of eternity lives in all of us. We thirst to live in a belief which raises our small personality to a higher coherence - a coherence which is human and yet superhuman, absolute and yet steadily growing and developing, ideal and yet real.

- Christian Lous Lange

Small, Eternity, Which, Steadily

The territorial state is such an ancient form of society - here in Europe it dates back thousands of years - that it is now protected by the sanctity of age and the glory of tradition. A strong religious feeling mingles with the respect and the devotion to the fatherland.

- Christian Lous Lange

Strong, Here, Religious, Thousands Of Years

Every time economic and technical development takes a step forward, forces emerge which attempt to create political forms for what, on the economic-technical plane, has already more or less become reality.

- Christian Lous Lange

Political, Technical, Plane, Every Time

Today we stand on a bridge leading from the territorial state to the world community. Politically, we are still governed by the concept of the territorial state; economically and technically, we live under the auspices of worldwide communications and worldwide markets.

- Christian Lous Lange

Concept, Still, Leading, Territorial

It is characteristic that this should take place just when it is becoming more and more clear to all who think about the matter, that technically and economically we have left the territorial state behind us.

- Christian Lous Lange

Think, Behind, Becoming, Territorial

Moreover, if the territorial state is to continue as the last word in the development of society, then war is inevitable.

- Christian Lous Lange

Development, Inevitable, Territorial

Upon the union of the male germ cell with the female egg cell, a new cell is created which almost immediately splits into two parts. One of these grows rapidly, creating the human body of the individual with all its organs, and dies only with the individual.

- Christian Lous Lange

Egg, Splits, Almost, Germ

Earlier ages fortified themselves behind the sovereign state, behind protectionism and militarism.

- Christian Lous Lange

Behind, Sovereign State, Sovereign

No state is free from militarism, which is inherent in the very concept of the sovereign state. There are merely differences of degree in the militarism of states.

- Christian Lous Lange

Very, Which, Sovereign State, Sovereign

The sovereign state has in our times become a lethal danger to human civilization because technical developments enable it to employ an infinite number and variety of means of destruction.

- Christian Lous Lange

Employ, Means, Developments, Sovereign

Militarism is basically a way of thinking, a certain interpretation of the function of the state; this manner of thinking is, moreover, revealed by its outer forms: by armaments and state organization.

- Christian Lous Lange

Thinking, Outer, Manner, Revealed

Only recently, during the nineteenth century, and then only in Europe, do we meet forms of the state which have been created by a deliberate national feeling.

- Christian Lous Lange

Been, Which, Recently, Forms

History shows us that other highly developed forms of civilization have collapsed. Who knows whether the same fate does not await our own?

- Christian Lous Lange

Fate, Civilization, Other, Forms

The growth of means of transport has created a world market and an opportunity for division of labor embracing all the developed and most of the undeveloped states.

- Christian Lous Lange

Opportunity, Means, Created, Embracing

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