Ah, what a warning for a thoughtless man, Could field or grove, could any spot of earth, Show to his eye an image of the pangs Which it hath witnessed, – render back an echo Of the sad steps by which it hath been trod!
History Quotes
Each age tries to form its own conception of the past. Each age writes the history of the past anew with reference to the conditions uppermost in its own time.
Tain’t people’s ignorance that does so much harm; ’tis their knowin’ so much that ain’t so.
Societies that do not eat people are fascinated by those that do.
Thirty thousand killed a million. It seems a pity that the historian let that get out; it is really a most embarrassing circumstance. (reacting to a report that thirty thousand American soldiers killed a million Filipinos)
The crazy combative patriotism that plainly threatens to destroy civilization is very largely begotten by the schoolmaster and the schoolmistress in their history lessons. They take the growing mind at a naturally barbaric phase and they inflame and fix its barbarism.
History, although sometimes made up of the few acts of the great, is more often shaped by the many acts of the small.
It is not worthwhile to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man’s character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible.
Human history is in essence a history of ideas.
There is false pride in hindsight. Revealed wrongs elicit sentimental bandages to dress the wounds of history. Individuals insist, saying, “I would not have let this happen, because I am good. If I had been given the power… if I had been in charge… if I were king… if I were dictator for even a […]
