The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different.
History Quotes
The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false.
Historians exercise great power and some of them know it. They recreate the past, changing it to fit their own interpretations. Thus, they change the future as well.
Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter.
The present state of things is the consequence of the former, and it is natural to enquire what were the sources of the good that we enjoy, or the evil that we suffer. If we act only for ourselves, to neglect the study of history is not prudent: if we are intrusted with the care […]
We witness a passing phase of eternity. Important things happen but some people never notice. Accidents interfere. You are not present at episodes. You depend on reports. And people shutter their minds. What good are reports? History in a news account? Preselected at an editorial conference, digested and excreted by prejudice? Accounts you need seldom […]
If we admit that some infinite being has controlled the destinies of persons and peoples, history becomes a most cruel and bloody farce.
The history of mankind is little else than a narrative of designs which have failed, and hopes that have been disappointed.
Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.
It is safe to say that every truth in the histories of those times (The Bible) is the result of accident or mistake.
