Quotes About History

Things that are done, it is needless to speak about...things that are past, it is needless to blame.

Study the past if you would define the future.

He had a vision of a nation. The incredible martial skills of the Mongol tribes had always been wasted against each other. From nothing, surrounded by enemies, Temujin rose to unite them all. What came next would shake the world.

Every man, who has fought in a battle, is now ash, every sword has been eaten by rust, but the lessons still must be learned

This story began with a single, starving family, hunted and alone on the plains of Mongolia—and ends with Kublai Khan ruling an empire larger than that of Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar. Over just three generations, that is simply the greatest rags-to-riches tale in human history.

The Assassin fortress in Alamut came under attack by Hulegu's forces around 1256. The head of the Muslim sect that held the fortress of Alamut was, in fact, Ala Ad-Din. I avoided his true name because of the similarity to "Aladdin" and because

This book could not have been written without the people of Mongolia, who allowed me to live among them for a time and who taught me their history over salted tea and vodka while the winter eased into spring.

All men die, Genghis. All. Think what it means for a moment. None of us are remembered for more than one or two generations.

A past is comforting because it' certain.

History was more than just stories, he reminded himself as the men walked forward with their burdens. It taught lessons as well.

I thought a man could throw his best years against enemies and then die, feared and loved both. I still think that. But when I am gone, the cities will rebuild and they will not remember me.

It's not bad to know history, commander. Every generation don't need to overcome again already existing art. Especially if the hardest part of the work is already done.

Conn Iggulden

but what good is thousands of years of art if you can't defend yourself?

it is a truth of historical fiction that all the characters are long dead; all the lives and stories have ended, and usually not well.

thirty-five-woman team made up the first known all-female catapult crew in US military history.

A Grand Design we couldn't see because we were part of it. A Grand Design we only got occasional, fleeting glimpses of. A Grand Design involving the entire course of history and all of time and space that, for some unfathomable reason, chose to work out its designs with cats and croquet mallets and penwipers, to say nothing of the dog. And a hideous piece of Victorian artwork. And us.

I was on a walking tour of Oxford colleges once with a group of bored and unimpressable tourists. They yawned at Balliol's quad, T.E. Lawrence's and Churchill's portraits, and the blackboard Einstein wrote his E=mc2 on. Then the tour guide said, 'And this is the Bridge of Sighs, where Lord Peter proposed (in Latin) to Harriet,' and everyone suddenly came to life and began snapping pictures. Such is the power of books.

History was indeed controlled by blind forces, as well as character and courage and treachery and love. And accident and random chance. And stray bullets and telegrams and tips. And cats.

our early personal histories and unmet emotional needs influence our adult spiritual quests and religious desires.

Man watches his history on the screen with apathy and an occasional passing flicker of horror or indignation.

Nixon's full term was one of the most successful in U.S. history, which is why he was re-elected by the largest plurality in the country's history.

For all history up to the end of the Cold War, summit meetings were historic and dramatic occasions, when leaders who controlled the destiny of much of the world met to change the world.

Rupert Murdoch is probably the most successful media proprietor and operator in history.