Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Every true history must force us to remember that the past was once as real as the present and as uncertain as the future.
It is bad luck for world history that of all people the Russians adopted Communism, because they are totally unfit for it.
In every election in American history both parties have their cliches. The party that has the cliches that ring true wins.
The history of mankind is little else than a narrative of designs which have failed and hopes that have been disappointed.
In popular government results worth while can only be achieved by men who combine worthy ideals with practical good sense.
History is but a kind of Newgate calendar, a register of the crimes and miseries that man has inflicted on his fellow-man.
Every single immigrant is part of a larger history that needs to be communicated in all its ambivalences and complexities.
Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.
History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.
[T]hat is the triumph of history - truth absolute is not at hand; the original with which to match the copy does not exist.
I thought it necessary to study history, even to study it deeply, in order to obtain a clear meaning of our immediate time.
History is the most aristocratic of all literary pursuits, because it obliges the historian to be rich as well as educated.
There comes a time in the life of every nation when it stands at the crossroads of history and must choose which way to go.
I want to go down in the history books as one of the greatest female boxers of all time, and I think I'm on the right path.
It is a mark of civilised man that he seeks to understand his traditions, and to criticise them, not to swallow them whole.
The oppressed peoples can liberate themselves only through struggle. This is a simple and clear truth confirmed by history.
But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.
Active valour may often be the present of nature; but such patient diligence can be the fruit only of habit and discipline.
If Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at the age of 22, it would have changed the history of music and of aviation.
My family history, like that of many Polish, German and Jewish families from Central Europe in the 20th century, is complex.
Memmius would only be useless to him for a short time, but that he would remain useless to himself and the Republic forever.
[L]et me point out that libertarians defend a tradition of liberty that is the fruit of thousands of years of human history.
What would constitute useful history? That which should teach us our duties and our rights, without appearing to teach them.
We will be remembered not for the power of our weapons but for the power of our compassion, our dedication to human welfare.
[History is] the story of the magnificent rear-guard action fought during several thousand years by dogma against curiosity.
This was the Athenians' war against the King of Macedon, a war of words. Words are the only weapons the Athenians have left.
Havana, for all its smells, sweat, crumbling walls, isolation, and difficult history, is the most romantic city in the world.
The wisdom of hindsight, so useful to historians and indeed to authors of memoirs, is sadly denied to practicing politicians.
If history offers no obvious solutions, however, it does at least provide the comfort of knowing that failure is nothing new.
History is an illogical record. It hinges on nothing. It is a story that changes, and has accidents, and recovers with scars.
What about snipers?" I once asked someone. He said, "Oh, most of the snipers have automatic weapon. They arent very accurate.
Stonehenge was built possibly by the Minoans. It presents one of man's first attempts to order his view of the outside world.
History is full of the dead weight of things which have escaped the control of the mind, yet drive man on with a blind force.
Beware of endeavoring to become a great man in a hurry. One such attempt in ten thousand may succeed. These are fearful odds.
In this world without quiet corners, there can be no easy escapes from history, from hullabaloo, from terrible, unquiet fuss.
Crassus was in the habit of maintaining that nobody should be called rich who was not able to maintain an army on his income.
History is the recital of facts represented as true. Fable, on the other hand, is the recital of facts represented as fiction.
A Grecian history, perfectly written should be a complete record of the rise and progress of poetry, philosophy, and the arts.
There exists in human nature a strong propensity to depreciate the advantages, and to magnify the evils, of the present times.
Life is nothing until it is lived; but it is yours to make sense of, and the of it is nothing other than the sense you choose.
If the only time you think of me as a scientist is during Black History Month, then I must not be doing my job as a scientist.
We decipherers cannot afford to be as picky as the linguist, who can always run back to a native speaker for a few more forms.
No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.
That's all a man can hope for during his lifetime - to set an example - and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history.
Absolutely, I don't believe in rules. As I tell my daughter when she is mischievous, 'Well-behaved women rarely make history.'
The Japanese Co-Prosperity Zone began as a racist utopia and ended as a cross between an abbatoir, a plantation and a brothel.
History is constantly repeating itself, making only such changes of programme as the growth of nations and centuries requires.
Historically, the most terrible things - war, genocide, and slavery - have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience.
If at times our actions seem to make life difficult for others, it is only because history has made life difficult for us all.
One age cannot be completely understood if all the others are not understood. The song of history can only be sung as a whole.