What is history but a fable agreed upon?
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are no longer strong.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Historians desiring to write the actions of men, ought to set down the simple truth, and not say anything for love or hatred; also to choose such an opportunity for writing as it may be lawful to think what they will, and write what they think, which is a rare happiness of the time.
—Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) English Courtier, Navigator, Poet
Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.
—Robert F. Kennedy (1925–68) American Politician, Civil Rights Activist
The only thing new in this world is the history that you don’t know
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.
—Haile Selassie
We must consider how very little history there is; I mean real, authentic history.—That certain kings reigned, and certain battles were fought, we can depend on as true; but all the coloring, all the philosophy of history is conjecture.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
An old courtier, with veracity, good sense, and a faithful memory, is an inestimable treasure; he is full of transactions and maxims; in him one may find the history of the age, enriched with a great many curious circumstances which we never meet with in books; from him we may learn rules for our conduct and manners, of the more weight, because founded on facts, and illustrated by striking examples.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
To be a historian is to discover the facts in context, to discover what things mean, to lay before the reader your reconstruction of time, place, mood, to empathize even when you disagree. You read all the relevant material, you synthesize all the books, you speak to all the people you can, and then you write down what you known about the period. You feel you own it.
—Doris Kearns Goodwin (b.1943) American Biographer, Historian
We are always doing, says he, “something for posterity, but I would see posterity do something for us.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Providence conceals itself in the details of human affairs, but becomes unveiled in the generalities of history.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
We may gather out of history a policy no less wise than eternal, by the comparison and application of other men’s forepast miseries with our own like errors and ill deservings.
—Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) English Courtier, Navigator, Poet
James Joyce is right about history being a nightmare—but it may be that nightmare from which no one can awaken. People are trapped in history and history in trapped in them.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.
—David McCullough (b.1933) American Historian
Any fool can make history, but it takes a genius to write it.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
History must be written of, by and for the survivors.
—Unknown
History is the ship carrying living memories to the future
—Stephen Spender (1909–95) English Poet, Critic
My experiences of men has neither disposed me to think worse of them nor be indisposed to serve them: nor, in spite of failures which I lament, of errors which I now see and acknowledge, or the present aspect of affairs, do I despair of the future. The truth is this: The march of Providence is so slow and our desires so impatient; the work of progress so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope.
—Robert E. Lee (1807–70) Confederate General during American Civil War
The history of the past is a mere puppet show.—A little man comes out and blows a little trumpet, and goes in again.—You look for something new, and lo! another little man comes out and blows another little trumpet, and goes in again.—And it is all over.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce? No, that’s too grand, too considered a process. History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.
—Julian Barnes (b.1946) British Novelist, Critic
History is not the story of heroes entirely. It is often the story of cruelty and injustice and shortsightedness. There are monsters, there is evil, there is betrayal. That’s why people should read Shakespeare and Dickens as well as history—they will find the best, the worst, the height of noble attainment and the depths of depravity.
—David McCullough (b.1933) American Historian
History does not belong to us; we belong to it.
—Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002) German Philosopher
Don’t be misled by History, or any other unreliable source.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
You treat world history as a mathematician does mathematics, in which nothing but laws and formulas exist, no reality, no good and evil, no time, no yesterday, no tomorrow, nothing but an eternal, shallow, mathematical present.
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) German-born Swiss Novelist, Poet
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.
—William C. Durant (1861–1947) American Industrialist
History is the sum total of the things that could have been avoided.
—Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967) German Statesman
Many historians take pleasure in putting into the mouths of princes what they have neither said nor ought to have said.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
In all things there is a law of cycles.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
What experience and history teach is this — that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) German Philosopher
The historian must have some conception of how men who are not historians behave. Otherwise he will move in a world of the dead. He can only gain that conception through personal experience, and he can only use his personal experiences when he is a genius.
—E. M. Forster (1879–1970) English Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist
History is only the pattern of silken slippers descending the stairs to the thunder of hobnailed boots climbing upward from below.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Historian. A broad—gauge gossip.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
The impartiality of history is not that of the mirror, which merely reflects objects, but of the judge who sees, listens, and decides.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
The reason history is by turns gripping, boring and threatening is that it is a play in which the characters make up their lines as they go along.
—Dero A. Saunders (1914–2002) American Journalist, Scholar
The pyramids, attached with age, have forgotten the names of their founders.
—Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) American Inventor, Philosopher
History is merely a list of surprises. It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again.
—Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
History is neither more nor less than biography on a large scale.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
Every time history repeats itself the price goes up.
—Unknown
It is humiliating to remain with our hands folded while others write history. It matters little who wins. To make a people great it is necessary to send them to battle even if you have to kick them in the pants. That is what I shall do.
—Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) Italian Head of State, Politician
History is a set of lies agreed upon.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
A blot in thy escutcheon to all futurity.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called history is.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
It is better to allow our lives to speak for us than our words. God did not bear the cross only two thousand years ago. He bears it today, and he dies and is resurrected from day to day. It would be a poor comfort to the world if it had to depend on a historical God who died two thousand years ago. Do not, then, preach the God of history, but show him as he lives today through you.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
To believe that what has not occurred in history will not occur at all, is to argue disbelief in the dignity of man.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
History is the most aristocratic of all literary pursuits, because it obliges the historian to be rich as well as educated.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters
It is the true office of history to represent the events themselves, together with the counsels, and to leave the observations and conclusions thereupon to the liberty and faculty of every man’s judgment.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher