HISTORY QUOTES V

quotations about history

What dependence can I have on the alleged events of ancient history, when I find such difficulty in ascertaining the truth regarding a matter that has taken place only a few minutes ago, and almost in my own presence!

SIR WALTER RALEIGH

attributed, Testimony: Its Posture in the Scientific World


History is a relay of revolutions.

SAUL ALINSKY

Rules for Radicals

Tags: Saul Alinsky


History is written by the victors, but it's victims who write the memoirs.

CAROL TAVRIS & ELLIOT ARONSON

Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)


History shows that there are no invincible armies and that there never have been.

JOSEPH STALIN

radio address, July 3, 1941


History is a struggle between the "old" right that intended to be just and the "new" that promises to be.

REINHARD BENDIX

Truth and Ideology

Tags: Reinhard Bendix


History is not fable agreed upon, but truth disagreed upon.

IVAN PANIN

Thoughts

Tags: Ivan Panin


He who thoroughly understands the present epoch, must have reproduced, and lived through, in his private experience, all the religions, dispensations, and civilizations that preceded it.

WILLIAM BATCHELDER GREENE

Remarks on the Science of History

Tags: William Batchelder Greene


Good history is a good foundation for a better present and future.

JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN

preface, Race and History: Selected Essays 1938-1988


I have a hard time with historians because they idolize the truth.

BOYD K. PACKER

Faithful History


All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut.

ANNE BRONTE

Agnes Grey

Tags: Anne Brontë


The nature of this melancholy becomes clearer, once one asks the question, with whom does the historical writer of historicism actually empathize. The answer is irrefutably with the victor. Those who currently rule are however the heirs of all those who have ever been victorious. Empathy with the victors thus comes to benefit the current rulers every time.

WALTER BENJAMIN

Theses on the Philosophy of History

Tags: Walter Benjamin


One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us.

CARL SAGAN

The Demon-Haunted World

Tags: Carl Sagan


History. The more of it you have the more you have to live it. After a little while there gets to be too much of it to memorize and maybe that's when empires start to decline.

JOHN UPDIKE

Rabbit is Rich

Tags: John Updike


The more we know of history, the less shall we esteem the subjects of it.

CHARLES CALEB COLTON

Lacon

Tags: Charles Caleb Colton


Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.

H.G. WELLS

The Outline of History

Tags: H. G. Wells


History, again, tells us of successive civilizations which have been born, have for a space thriven exceedingly, and have then miserably perished.

ARTHUR BALFOUR

Essays and Addresses

Tags: Arthur Balfour


History is more or less bunk.

HENRY FORD

Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1916

Tags: Henry Ford


The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.

MAO ZEDONG

"On Coalition Government", Apr. 24, 1945


The historian's task is to present what actually happened. The more purely and completely he achieves this, the more perfectly has he solved this problem. A simple presentation is at the same time the primary indispensable condition of his work and the highest achievement he will be able to attain. Regarded in this way, he seems to be merely receptive and productive, not active and creative.

WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT

"The Historian's Task"

Tags: Wilhelm von Humboldt


History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.

JULIAN BARNES

The Sense of an Ending

Tags: Julian Barnes