HISTORY AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF EVENTS

Chou En Lai was reportedly once asked what he thought was the historic impact of the French Revolution. After considering the question for a moment he replied:

It's too soon to tell.

This story shows up in a few different versions. Sometimes it's reported as being told to Kissinger himself, sometimes, as in the version quoted below, to Nixon, and sometimes a full twenty years earlier to someone else. It's a good guess that Chou En Lai actually said this, though precisely when, or to whom, isn't clear. This particular example is taken from one of the various web reports of the event - as usual, used by someone for his or her own reasons:

Legend has it that, while preparing Richard Nixon for his historic visit to China in 1972, Henry Kissinger mentioned that Chinese Prime Minister Chou En-Lai was an avid student of French history. During his trip, Nixon met with Chou En-Lai in the walled garden of the Forbidden City. As they walked slowly around the lily ponds, Nixon remembered Kissinger's comment. To break the ice, he asked Chou what he thought had been the impact of the French revolution on western civilization. Chou En-Lai considered the question for a few moments. Finally, he turned to Nixon and replied, "The impact of the French revolution on western civilization -- too early to tell."

And of course in that respect the jury is still out on many historic events.

Acknowledgement http://muse.tau.ac.il



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