HISTORY QUOTES V

quotations about history

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)


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

JOSEPH STALIN

radio address, July 3, 1941


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

JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN

preface, Race and History: Selected Essays 1938-1988


There are singular moments in history, dates that divide all that goes before from all that comes after.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

State of the Union Address, Jan. 31, 1990

Tags: George H. W. Bush


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


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


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

CHARLES CALEB COLTON

Lacon

Tags: Charles Caleb Colton


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


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

BOYD K. PACKER

Faithful History


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

MAO ZEDONG

"On Coalition Government", Apr. 24, 1945


Each day is a little bit of history.

JOSé SARAMAGO

Baltasar and Blimunda

Tags: José Saramago


History is more or less bunk.

HENRY FORD

Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1916

Tags: Henry Ford


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


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


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


History, which is a simple whore, has no decisive moments but is a proliferation of instants, brief interludes that vie with one another in monstrousness.

ROBERTO BOLAÑO

2666

Tags: Roberto Bolaño


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