History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
We are at a crossroads in human history. Never before has there been a moment so simultaneously perilous and promising. We are the first species to have taken evolution into our own hands.
—Carl Sagan (1934–96) American Astronomer
History is the essence of innumerable biographies.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
History is the enactment of ritual on a permanent and universal stage; and its perpetual commemoration.
—Norman O. Brown (1913–2002) American Philosopher
History, insofar as it accustoms human beings to comprehend the whole of the past and to hasten forward with its conclusions into the far future, conceals the boundaries of birth and death, which enclose the life of the human being so narrowly and oppressively, and with a kind of optical illusion, expands his short existence into endless space, leading the individual imperceptibly over into humanity.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
History is the recital of facts represented as true. Fable, on the other hand, is the recital of facts represented as fiction. The history of man’s ideas is nothing more than the chronicle of human error.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
In its amplest meaning History includes every trace and vestige of everything that man has done or thought since first he appeared on the earth.
—James Harvey Robinson (1863–1936) American Historian
What experience and history teach us is that people and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) German Philosopher
All history is but the lengthened shadow of a great man
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
What has been will be again. What has been done will be done again…
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
There is a history in all men’s lives.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward toward unity and widely shared prosperity – or it will move apart.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
History is the ship carrying living memories to the future
—Stephen Spender (1909–95) English Poet, Critic
Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly found, given, and transmitted from the past.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
It’s my belief that history is a wheel. ‘Inconstancy is my very essence,’ says the wheel. Rise up on my spokes if you like but don’t complain when you’re cast back down into the depths. Good time pass away, but then so do the bad. Mutability is our tragedy, but it’s also our hope. The worst of time, like the best, are always passing away.
—Boethius (c.480–524 CE) Roman Statesman, Philosopher
From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
What are most of the histories of the world but lies?—Lies immortalized, and consigned over as a perpetual abuse and a flaw upon posterity.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
Never doubt that you can change history. You already have.
—Marge Piercy (b.1936) American Poet, Novelist, Social Activist
Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Events tend to recur in cycles…
—W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American Self-help Guru, Entrepreneur
I am not more gifted than the average human being. If you know anything about history, you would know that is so—what hard times I had in studying and the fact that I do not have a memory like some other people do… I am just more curious than the average person and I will not give up on a problem until I have found the proper solution. This is one of my greatest satisfactions in life—solving problems—and the harder they are, the more satisfaction do I get out of them. Maybe you could consider me a bit more patient in continuing with my problem than is the average human being. Now, if you understand what I have just told you, you see that it is not a matter of being more gifted but a matter of being more curious and maybe more patient until you solve a problem.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
All motion is cyclic. It circulates to the limits of its possibilities and then returns to its starting point.
—Robert Collier (1885–1950) American Self-Help Author
Every great writer is a writer of history, let him treat on what subjects he may.—He carries with him, for thousands of years, a portion of his times.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
Historian—an unsuccessful novelist.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
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 history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) German Philosopher
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
The present state of things is the consequence of the past; and it is natural to inquire as to the sources of the good we enjoy or the evils we suffer. If we act oniy for ourselves, to neglect the study of history is not prudent; if intrusted with the care of others, it is not just.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
No harm’s done to history by making it something someone would want to read.
—David McCullough (b.1933) American Historian
One age cannot be completely understood if all the others are not understood. The song of history can only be sung as a whole.
—Jose Ortega y. Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish Critic, Journalist, Philosopher
History is but a kind of Newgate calendar, a register of the crimes and miseries that man has inflicted on his fellowman.
—Washington Irving (1783–1859) American Essayist, Biographer, Historian
I love those historians that are either very simple or most excellent. Such as are between both (which is the most common fashion), it is they that spoil all; they will needs chew our meat for us and take upon them a law to judge, and by consequence to square and incline the story according to their fantasy.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
The men who make history have not time to write it.
—Klemens Wenzel, Prince von Metternich (1773–1859) Austrian Political leader, Politician
The history of mankind is his character.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
History is the best medicine for a sick mind, for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see, and in that record you can find for yourself and your country both examples and warnings: fine things to take as models, base things rotten through and through to avoid.
—Livy (Titus Livius) (59 BCE–17 CE) Roman Historian
History is an account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
You don’t change the course of history by turning the faces of portraits to the wall.
—Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian Head of State
Any fool can make history, but it takes a genius to write it.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
It is not “history” which uses men as a means of achieving—as if it were an individual person—its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
Few can be induced to labor exclusively for posterity; and none will do it enthusiastically. Posterity has done nothing for us; and theorize on it as we may, practically we shall do very little for it, unless we are made to think we are at the same time doing something for ourselves.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Historians give us the extraordinary events, and omit just what we want, the everyday life of each particular time and country.
—Richard Whately (1787–1863) English Philosopher, Theologian
History is not a work of philosophy, it is a painting; it is necessary to combine narration with the representation of the subject, that is, it is necessary simultaneously to design and to paint; it is necessary to give to men the language and the sentiments of their times, not to regard the past in the light of our own opinion.
—Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand (1768–1848) French Writer, Academician, Statesman
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
History keeps her secrets longer than most of us. But she has one secret that I will reveal to you tonight in the greatest confidence. Sometimes there are no winners at all. And sometimes nobody needs to lose.
—John le Carre (1931–2020) English Spy Thriller Novelist
History has to be rewritten because history is the selection of those threads of causes or antecedents that we are interested in.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
Great abilities are not requisite for an Historian; for in historical composition, all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent. He has facts ready to his hand; so there is no exercise of invention. Imagination is not required in any degree; only about as much as is used in the lowest kinds of poetry. Some penetration, accuracy, and coloring, will fit a man for the task, if he can give the application which is necessary.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Biography is the only true history.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
History is strewn thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill, but a lie, well told, is immortal.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist