E. H. Carr, What is History? (1961). Chap. 5 : History as Progress
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Hegel clothed his absolute in the mystical shape of a world spirit, and made the cardinal error of bringing the course of history to an end in the present instead of projecting it into the future. He recognized a process of continuous evolution in the past, and incongruously denied it in the future.

— E. H. Carr on Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Hegel clothed his absolute in the mystical shape of a world spirit, and made the cardinal error of bringing the course of history to an end in the present instead of projecting it into the future. He recognized a process of continuous evolution in the past, and incongruously denied it in the future." in the context of "E. H. Carr, What is History? (1961). Chap. 5 : History as Progress" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel" (Quotes about Hegel: Alphabetized by surname) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
E. H. Carr

About E. H. Carr

Edward Hallett "Ted" Carr, CBE (28 June 1892 – 3 November 1982) was an English historian, diplomat, journalist and international relations theorist.