Quotes About History

But look, I was born in 1956, the peak year for births in US history. I think I'm very representative of many of the thought processes my generation have been through and, by and large, people of my age have had their imprint planted on the consciousness of western society for a long time.

So much history buried underneath. We spend our lives to try to dig it out, but always the present buries it again.

Only to say that the myths survive when everything else has been forgotten. And that sometimes the myths, for all their slippery deceptions, tell us more about the past than ruined walls and broken pots.

A too often forgotten truth is that you can live through actual events of history and completely miss the underlying reality of what's going. What history misses, the myth clearly expresses. The myth in the hands of a genius give us a clear picture of the inner import of life itself.

The issue of civil rights was too much for the establishment to handle. One of the chapters of history that's least studied by historians is the 300 to 500 riots in the U.S. between 1965 and 1970.

You look at the greatest villains in human history, the fascists, the autocrats, they all wanted people to kneel before them because they don't love themselves enough.

I always found the extraordinary loss of life in the First World War very moving. I remember learning about it as a very young child, as an eight- or nine-year-old, asking my teachers what poppies were for. Every year the teachers would suddenly wear these red paper flowers in their lapels, and I would say 'What does that mean?'

that there existed no earthly empire so great or overweening that it might not one day be dashed to pieces

The dictator himself cast his reforms as a restoration, the sweeping away of clutter. Yet clutter was the essence of the Republic

Of all Rome's seven hills, however, the Palatine was the most exclusive by far.

One day perhaps, when the records of the twentieth century AD have grown as fragmentary as those of ancient Rome, a history of the Second World War will be written that relies solely upon the broadcasts of Hitler and the memoirs of Churchill. It will be one cut off from whole dimensions of experience: no letters from the front, no combatants' diaries.

Sasanian monarchy and the fabled Kayanid

January 10, the seven-hundred-and-fifth year since the foundation of Rome, the forty-ninth before the birth of Christ.

Everyone knew that Syrians were 'natural businessmen, and the greediest of mortals'.

When Nero, with a casual quip, declared 'mushrooms to be the food of the gods, since it was by means of a mushroom that Claudius has become a god',66 it

American-style iced tea is the perfect drink for a hot, sunny day. It's never really caught on in the UK, probably because the last time we had a hot, sunny day was back in 1957.

I feel connected to the Second World War because my father lost his father in that war. So, through my dad and the effect it had on him of losing his father young, I always felt connected to the war. It goes back years, but it still feels to me as if we're completely living in it.

An expert is someone who knows a lot about the past.

The harsh terms imposed on Germany created the economic and political atmosphere that enabled the Nazis to come to power.

We now find ourselves facing the Christian West's oldest and most steadfast opponent, Islam.

martial transformation from the Western way of war to a neo-Eastern way of war is, like most historical changes in the art of war, the result of technological advancement. The

Clio, the patron goddess of history, has a sense of humor; she teaches us that not all problems have solutions

Ik heb nooit, zoals als zij, geloofd in militaire triomfen in naam van God, volk of staat. Ik ben gepokt en gemazeld een Vlaming van de nooit-meer-oorloggeneratie. De lessen van het verspilde bloed aan Den IJzer, en in alle Europese loopgraven van '14-'18, zijn me met de paplepel ingegeven. Een goede oorlog? Dat is een tegenstrijdigheid in de bewoordingen.

People need foundation myths.