作為知識分子，陳寅恪以「獨立之精神，自由之思想」，見重兩岸學界，不僅列名民國四大史家而已。從1937年抗戰爆發到國共內戰，陳寅恪由北而南，困居香港，顛沛於桂林，成都病目，再求醫萬里於英倫，復由北而南，棲止嶺南，其間還曾動念來臺或赴港，終未能成行，這既是當代中國知識分子飽經流離的縮影，也是知識分子邊緣化的寫照，更是通過人格和學識考驗的典型，證成憂患必出史學。

An intellectual known as his independent spirit as well as his liberal thinking, Chen Yin-ke has been held in high esteem among scholars in both Taiwan and Mainland. He was more than just one of the four most eminent historians of the Republic of China. From the 1937-1945 War of Resistance Against Japan to the 1946-1949 Civil War, Chen made a long exile from northern China to the South, arriving first in Hong Kong and then in Guilin, two places where he lived in dire circumstances. When he shift to Chengdu in the western province of Sichuan, he became afflicted with an eye disease that forced him to seek treatments in Britain thousands of miles away.1949, he moved to Guangzhou from the North for a second time. In Guangzhou, he even considered leaving for either Taiwan or Hong Kong. His was a life typical of intellectuals in contemporary China, who had to lead a Diaspora experience, as well as an example of how intellectuals were marginalized. However, his personality and scholarship, having stood the test of time, reflect his ordeal in the proposition that historiographical scholarship grows out of turbulent times.