Quotes About History

Archaeology and memory are two ways of trying to retrieve and keep the past, both of them fallible, fascinating and doomed to be incomplete.

I would rather see Rome ruled by a man who once had to ask his accountant tricky questions before his steward could pay the butcher's bill than by some mad limb like Nero, who was brought up believing himself the son and the grandson of gods, and who thought wearing the purple gave him free rein to indulge his personal vanities, execute real talent, bankrupt the Treasury, burn half of Rome – and bore the living daylights out of paying customers in theatres!

Boys chase girls. Women chase men. Men chase history.

There are only two ways to look at history: people either make things happen, or they let things happen. In that sense, all of history is bipolar; cognate of goodwill and bad fortune. Both philosophies, together, importune a reshaping of destiny.

In the dark attics of our minds, all times mingle.

The past scampers like an alley cat through the present, leaving the paw prints of memories scattered helter-skelter.

I've always believed the lies we use to make our fictions reveal the truth with far more honesty than any history or herstory or life story.

We're all made of stories. When they finally put us underground, the stories are what will go on.

Asking the author of historical novels to teach you about history is like expecting the composer of a melody to provide answers about radio transmission.

I am a bundle of other people's histories, a creature of circumstance.

You can blame your mother, and she can blame hers. Leastways sooner or later it's the fault of somebody who's dead.

Bur Armenians have a talent for sorrow.

History is made of empires, and the United States was by far and away the greatest, richest, and fairest empire that had ever dominated the earth. Inevitably, it would fall. Empires always did. But we were lucky, you said. We got to participate in the most fascinating social experiment ever attempted.

And that was your perspective on your country as well: that it was not forever. That of course it was an empire, though that was nothing to be ashamed of. History is made of empires, and the United States was by far and away the greatest, richest, and fairest empire that had ever dominated the earth. Inevitably, it would fall. Empires always did. But we were lucky, you said. We got to participate in the most fascinating social experiment ever attempted.

Nowadays our sense of history is being destroyed by the nature of our history - our memory is short and it grows shorter under the rapidity of the assault of events. What once occupied all our minds and filled the musty meeting halls with the awareness of heroism and destiny has now become chiefly a matter for the historical scholar.

Whether or not birth control is eugenic, hygienic, and economic, it is the most revolutionary practice in the history of sexual morals.

In my understanding, the women's movement is first and foremost about memory. It is about remembering the women who lived, struggled, worked and loved before us, including those who we've never heard about. The women's movement is a sense of continuity in time, knowing that you are part of a river, constantly flowing, changing, expanding. - Elif Shafak

She spent all her free time either drawing the strange things she saw in her dreams, or with her nose inside historical novels. The world held in the pages of history felt like the real world, and the present day an illusion she had to suffer through until she could escape back into the pages of a book.

We don't put much stock in genealogy where I'm from [...] It's assumed that you're kind of a loser if you have to sink to boasting about your family in order to impress people.

You couldn't get where you were going without knowing where you'd been. And you couldn't be anywhere at all without having been almost there for a while.

You can't get where you're going without being where you've been.

Florence Earlier today we strolled across the Ponte Vecchio. This bridge was built over the Arno River in 1345. It is lined with jewelry shops. Originally, the shops were used by blacksmiths, tanners, and butchers. They dumped their waste into the river, causing quite a smell! A corridor above the shops was added later. This allowed the Medici family--rulers of Florence--to move about without having to come in contact with the public.

The Ravenels have always been known for their volatile temperaments." "Thank you," Gabriel said sourly. "Now I won't be surprised when my future offspring emerge with horns and tails.

We were each other's only link to the past . . . that was the strength of our bond, and also our weakness.