Quotes About History

My parents bookshelves were full of books that belonged to their lives in the Communist party.

I lived under the Nazis and under the Communists.

It's never been written about, but before the blacklist of Dalton Trumbo and the Hollywood Ten, there was a de facto blacklist by Communists in the movie industry, and there were a lot of them.

I wil not compare the education of an ancient Spartan with that of a British nobleman.

We talk about players of yesteryear, guys who could play or couldn't play, and I think it's ridiculous to try to even compare people... The things that you can do in basketball today that you couldn't even do then... you can carry the ball; you walk all over the place.

Americans think that they have a history, but it's nothing compared to Europe.

Nothing compares to the Indianapolis 500.

In one era, it's hard enough to compare people. But comparing people of different eras... that's next to impossible.

It's never good to turn to comparisons with Nazis.

I just want to complete my legacy.

You got to remember that slavery's very complex. It has a lot of levels to it.

Egypt is a large, complex, very important country.

Anything to do with the Beatles is very complicated.

I mean Afghanistan is a very rugged, complicated country.

What is music about? You can't listen to one era, one composer, and know what music is about.

Composers are always going back to the past.

Doing a movie about computers between 1978 and 1982? You can't get much less sexy, less active than that.

Charlestoning is hard. People were fit in the '20s to be able to do that. I guess they didn't sit in front of their computers all day.

I started working at a point in history when digital computers were becoming mature, and before that, there were no such machines.

United's history was built on attacking football, which does not always mean that the team kept clean sheets or did not concede chances.

What I haven't apologised for is the original concept of seeking to bring justice to all South Africans through the concept of nation states.

My writing has been largely concerned with the depicting of Negro life in America.

What is it about royalty - even if you're a confirmed republican - that is dramatically interesting?

I have lived all my life as part of an ethnic conflict.