Quotes About History

El olvido es el hijo consentido de la historia y el alero bajo el cual palpita la convivencia.

Las palabras son de elástico, las manos de greda, van guardando las huellas, dicen la verdad sobre las personas. Graban la historia de la persona.

me dije que quizás la guerra principal en el mundo se libraba entre la amnesia y la memoria

History, which is a simple whore, has no decisive moments but is a proliferation of instants, brief interludes that vie with one another in monstrousness.

Dust and literature have always gone hand in hand.

As far as Popescu was concerned, meanwhile, Dracula was simply a Romanian patriot who had resisted the Turks, a deed for which every European nation should to some degree be grateful. History is cruel, said Popescu, cruel and paradoxical: the man who halts the conquering onslaught of the Turks is transformed, thanks to a second-rate English writer, into a monster, a libertine whose sole interest is human blood, when the truth is that the only blood Tepes cared to spill was Turkish.

As you're well aware, this is a macho country full of faggots. The history of Mexico wouldn't make sense otherwise.

Auxilio, they'd say, that's enough bustling around, Auxilio, leave those papers alone, woman, dust and literature have always gone together.

Todos tenemos algún antepasado imbécil. Todos, en algún momento de nuestras vidas, encontramos el rastro, las huellas vacilantes del más pelmazo de nuestros antepasados, y al mirar ese rostro huidizo nos damos cuenta, con estupor, con incredulidad, con horror, de que estamos contemplando nuestra propia cara que nos hace guiños y muecas amistosas desde el fondo de un pozo.

An individual is no match for history.

Ambos habíamos nacido más o menos por las mismas fechas. Ambos habíamos rajado de nuestras respectivas Repúblicas, cuando pasó lo que pasó.

Statistically speaking, there isn't a single German born in 1920 who hasn't changed addresses at least once in his life," said Pelletier.

la historia, que es una puta sencilla, no tiene momentos determinantes sino que es una proliferación de instantes, de brevedades que compiten entre sí en monstruosidad.

It's because I don't have a proper grasp of history and I need to brush up." "What for?" asked Hans Reiter. "To fill a void." "Voids can't be filled," said Hans Reiter

In any case, on the wall of Juan Stein's house, there hung a rather ornately framed portrait of Chernyakhovsky, and that, I dare say, incommensurably more important than the busts and the cities named after him and the countless Chernyakhovsky Streets, full of potholes, scattered through the Ukraine, Belorussia, Lithuania and Russia. I don't know why I've kept the photo, Stein said to us.

Life is demand and supply, or supply and demand, that's what it all boils down to, but that's no way to live. A third leg is needed to keep the table from collapsing into the garbage pit of history, which in turn is permanently collapsing into the garbage pit of the void. So take note. This is the equation: supply + demand + magic. And what is magic? Magic is epic and it's also sex and Dionysian mists and play.

En ik dacht: zo is de geschiedenis, een kort gruwelverhaal.

en Chile todos los actos poéticos terminaban en desastres.

I get the idea perfectly, Mickey," said Archimboldi, thinking all the while that this man was not only irritating but ridiculous, with the particular ridiculousness of self-dramatizers and poor fools convinced they've been present at a decisive moment in history, when it's common knowledge, thought Archimboldi, that history, which is a simple whore, has no decisive moments but is a proliferation of instants, brief interludes that vie with one another in monstrousness.

Roma, Roma, città grande, posso farti le domande? Roma, Roma, città amata, ma quand'è che tu sei nata? Roma, Roma, città bella, sei mai stata cittadella? Roma, Roma, città brava, chi a quei tempi ti abitava? Roma, Roma, città altera, sei rimasta sempre intera? Roma, Roma, città tosta, dammi l'ultima risposta: Roma, Roma, città antica, sei mia amica o sei nemica? ? Orma ramo roma amor

Everything matters. The Universe is approximately fifteen billion years old, and I swear that in all that time, nothing has ever happened that has not mattered, has not contributed in some way to the totality.

It is often assumed that a symbol, while not necessarily representing a truth, represents a belief, and so speaks directly for a historical frame of mind.

From A Ride Along the Great Wall, Page 112:

History is no more fixed and dead than the future. The past is no further away than the last breath you took.