Quotes About History

Da nicht einmal das Böse auf Erden rein ist, hat jede der drei demokratischen Wellen dem Menschen eine klarere Vorstellung gebracht: Die erste die von der Seele, die zweite die vom transzendenten Gott, die dritte die von der Geschichte: Platonismus, alexandrinische Theologie, Romantik.

Progress is the offspring of knowledge of nature. Faith in progress is the offspring of ignorance of history.

El Occidente habrá muerto, cuando deje de ser la presencia de Grecia en un alma cristiana.

In general, "historical necessity" turns out to be merely a name for human stupidity.

A cultivated soul is one where the din of the living does not drown out the music of the dead.

Adults? Maybe there were only two: Thucydides and Burckhardt.

History exhibits two types of anarchy: that which emanates from a plurality of forces and that which derives from a plurality of weaknesses.

Al despojarse de la túnica cristiana y de la toga clásica, no queda del europeo sino un bárbaro pálido

It is not the origin of religions, or their cause, which requires explanation, but rather the cause and origin of their eclipse and neglect.

The history of art is the history of its materials, its techniques, its themes, its social conditions, its psychological motives, or its set of intellectual problems, but never the history of beauty. A value has no history.

A civilization's memory resides in the continuity of its institutions. The revolution that interrupts a civilization's memory, by destroying those institutions, does not relieve society of a bothersome caparison that is paralyzing it, but merely forces it to start over.

Toda sociedade que se crê senhora de sua história, que se sente segura de seus propósitos, convicta da excelência de seus princípios e persuadida de possuir a verdade, tiraniza e oprime.

Wie eine Tradition aufrecht erhalten? Indem man nicht von ihr spricht.

That the French Revolution was essentially a religious phenomenon was only seen with clarity by Joseph de Maistre and Michelet.

Ce siècle sombre lentement dans un marécage de sperme et de merde. Lorsqu'il traitera des événements actuels, le futur historien devra enfiler des gants.

Die Intellektuelle Geschichte Deutschlands lehrt uns, daß der Geist mit Vorliebe in den Seelen weht, die ihre Größe durch ein Leben der eintönigen Routine erkämpfen.

History is indeed the history of freedom—not of an essence "Freedom," but of free human acts and their unforeseeable consequences.

Nobody is ignorant of the fact that historical events are made up of four factors: necessity, coincidence, spontaneity, freedom. Nevertheless, it is rare to find a historiographical school that does not seek to reduce them to a single factor.

When the dust raised by the great events of modern history settles, the mediocrity of the protagonists leaves the historian dumbfounded.

Civilizations are mortal" is the greatest comfort for someone alive today.

Someone who has been defeated should not console himself with the possible retaliations of history, but with the patent excellence of his cause.

The historical importance of a man rarely corresponds to his intimate nature. History is full of victorious morons.

The 'wheel of fortune' is a better analogy for history than the 'evolution of humanity.

Humanity will one day solemnly recall the events that initiated the dismantlement of industrial society.