Quotes About History

Not all engagement with our past is characterized by crisis.

The official, standard history of rock 'n' roll is true, but it's not the whole truth. It's not the truth at all. It's a constructed story that has been disseminated so comprehensively that people believe it, but it's not true to their experience, and it may even deform or suppress their experience.

Shakespearean tragedy is neither ancient history nor fairy tale. Perhaps to express this is the most important thing. In which period does the action of the play take place? It is in that past which can become the future.

The most important project at this moment in history is to reclaim a social connection to the human persona, to move away from dehumanizing and otherizing in the direction of co-humanizing.

History has taught us that when understanding and tolerance are fostered, people of different faiths can live together in harmony. Regrettably, history has also taught us the opposite, that such states of equilibrium can quickly degenerate and succumb to rhetoric of anger and fear, sometimes leading to violence and even war. A balance of mutual respect and tolerance needs to be maintained through good works. Interrelations need continual nurturing.

Philosophy has become the shadow of itself over the years. Nine parts history and one part reflection on history. It has been ages since anything original came forth in the field. All the good thinking has already been done. Nowadays, philosophers are mostly institutionalized academics—like me—focused more on the politics of tenure than on philosophizing.

It can be easy to forget the lessons of history, including the tragedies of war, and ramp up divisive and destructive rhetoric without concern for the consequences.

During World War II, Iceland was a poor country with a total population of about 120,000 people. In contrast, the occupying U.S. force consisted of roughly 40,000 men—which meant that U.S. soldiers outnumbered adult Icelandic men—at least during the height of the occupation.

Por entonces era todavía joven; conocía poco los hombres y la historia: me había tomado en serio lo que me enseñaban en la Universidad.

Banditi e malaria hanno fatto il paesaggio italiano (borghi e città in luoghi elevati, difendibili e salubri); altri banditi e altra malaria si dirà lo disfecero.

Today you are walking in Paris the women are all steeped in blood It was and I'd rather not remember it was at beauty's decline

Even the automobiles have an air of antiquity here.

Kada po?nemo da kopamo po prošlosti, nastaju nevolje.

place an emphasis on preparation and player recuperation; maintain discipline in the dressing room while being respectful of all opponents and possess a sound knowledge of the Spanish league. Furthermore, the next manager of FC Barcelona would have to have a feel and understanding for the club, its values, significance and history.

how the word janitor came from Janus, the god of entrances and exits,

Or maybe the labyrinth had been built just for this purpose—to have them all play their part in a story written once upon a time and long ago.

My readings also led me to some of China's recent transformations that had made China almost unrecognizable to an historian.

The treatment of the Negro is America's greatest and most conspicuous scandal.

My aim in this book has been throughout an historical, not an apologetic aim.

Our ignorance of history makes us libel to our own times. People have always been like this.

Muhammad is the greatest man that history ever knew

The only real tyrants that humanity has known have always been the memories of its dead or the illusions it has forged itself.

The memorable events of history are the visible effects of the invisible changes of human thought.

Certainly it is possible that the advent to power of the masses marks one of the last stages of Western civilisation, a complete return to those periods of confused anarchy which seem always destined to precede the birth of every new society.