Quotes About History

George Washington sets the nation on its democratic path. Abraham Lincoln preserves it. Franklin Roosevelt sees the nation through depression and war.

Stories are one of the means by which a culture preserves its identity.

In reality, the past is preserved by itself automatically.

Introspection and preserved writings give us far more insight into the ways of past humans than we have into the ways of past dinosaurs. For that reason, I'm optimistic that we can eventually arrive at convincing explanations for these broadest patterns of human history.

There's a lot about the early history of salt that isn't known, including who first used it and when or how it was discovered that it preserved food. We were sort of handed, in history, this world where everyone knew about salt. And it's not clear exactly how that developed.

Ours is a country with diversified culture and centuries-old tradition, which have to be preserved at any cost.

In Japan, there is less a culture of preserving old buildings than in Europe.

The common people have no history: persecuted by the present, they cannot think of preserving the memory of the past.

There are times when we need to think beyond business and look at preserving culture and languages.

I think history is continuous. It doesn't begin or end on Pearl Harbor Day or the day Lyndon Johnson withdraws from the presidency or on 9/11. You have to learn from the past but not be imprisoned by it. You need to take counsel of history but never be imprisoned by it.

The thing about looking back over Clinton's presidency, and probably anybody's presidency, is that when you look back, the events all line up in a way that makes sense. At the time, you don't know where it's going.

If every senator looks into the mirror and sees a future president, then every president looks into that same mirror and sees himself on Mount Rushmore.

I will never be known as the former President of Zaire.

Barack Obama is the most antibusiness president in a generation, perhaps in American history.

The first black president will be a politician who is black.

I think President Obama has been an extraordinarily successful president, and that this period will record that with a bunch of exclamation points. But obviously, not everybody thinks that.

Poverty existed before January 20, 2008, OK? Before President Obama took office.

President Obama became our first African American president, and for me, it is the stuff of which dreams are made.

I went to law school with President Obama.

There was something so empowering about having President Obama in office because I know that for many of us, that's something that we never thought that we'd see in our lifetime.

The small moments I've had to talk with President Obama, I've told him, 'I get it.' His presidency was in some ways almost overshadowed by the fact that he was the first black president.

Comparing President Obama with the great leaders who have come before him is painful.

You simply can't understand the present if you don't understand the past. There is no more alarming case study of the consequences of historical ignorance than President Trump.

There is no moral high ground from which President Trump or any of his followers can tell anyone to leave this country, because they are not the first inhabitants of this land. They should instead look into their history to learn where, when and why their ancestors came to this country.