Quotes about History

“History is nothing if not an epic tale of missed opportunities.”

“The arc of our history is toward more equality being expanded to more and more people.”

“Be as a tower firmly set; Shakes not its top for any blast that blows.”

“I wouldn't attach too much importance to these student riots. I remember when I was a student at the Sorbonne in Paris, I used to go out and riot occasionally.”

“I googled 'Gabby Douglas,' and all these things popped up like 'Gabby Douglas makes history!' And 'She's the champion!'”

“The past actually happened but history is only what someone wrote down.”

“History is rife with examples of governments taking actions to 'protect' their citizens from harm by controlling access to information and inhibiting freedom of expression and other freedoms outlined in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We must make sure, collectively, that the Internet avoids a similar fate.”

“Man is not logical and his intellectual history is a record of mental reserves and compromises. He hangs on to what he can in his old beliefs even when he is compelled to surrender their logical basis.”

“France, and the whole of Europe have a great culture and an amazing history. Most important thing though is that people there know how to live! In America they've forgotten all about it. I'm afraid that the American culture is a disaster.”

“The contribution of Islam to history and modern civilization is the product of the efforts of peoples of many races and tongues which came to accept its way of life.”

“Temptation is as old as time; or at least, the history of temptation extends as far back as the moment Eve gave Adam that serpent's apple. But what sets the lady apart from the tramp is the ability to acknowledge she needs to clean up her act - and then, of course, the fact that she actually does clean up her act.”

“The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.”

“It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have been forged in controversies involving not very nice people.”

“Dorothy is the only woman in history who has had her menopause in public and made it pay.”

“An Edwardian lady in full dress was a wonder to behold, and her preparations for viewing were awesome.”

“Liberty has never come from Government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it.”

“I am trying to make art that relates to the deepest and most mythic concerns of human kind and I believe that, at this moment of history, feminism is humanism.”

“No man is truly great who is great only in his lifetime. The test of greatness is the page of history.”

“I don't seem to be able to learn from experience or anything useful. History doesn't help me. Precedents don't inform my experience.”

“Official history is merely a veil to hide the truth of what really happened. When the veil is lifted, again and again we see that not only is the official version not true, it is often 100% wrong.”

“Every successful social movement in this country's history has used disruption as a strategy to fight for social change. Whether it was the Boston Tea Party to the sit-ins at lunch counters throughout the South, no change has been won without disruptive action.”