History quotes

History

1.6K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

1.6K quotes

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History quotes (page 27 of 82)

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Mahatma Gandhi Political Leader
History

"We want to go in for suffering, and there may be torture. If we put the women in front the Government may hesitate to inflict on us all the penalty that they might otherwise inflict."

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Francis Bacon Philosopher, Statesman
History

"Because the acts or events of true history have not that magnitude which satisfieth the mind of man, poesy feigneth acts and events greater and more heroical."

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History

"James Joyce is right about history being a nightmare-- but it may be that nightmare from which no one can awaken. People are trapped in history and history in trapped in them."

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Leo Tolstoy Novelist, Philosopher
History

"The subject of history is the life of peoples and of humanity. To catch and pin down in words--that is, to describe directly the life, not only of humanity, but even of a single people, appears to be impossible."

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George Orwell Writer, Journalist
History

"England will still be England, an everlasting animal, stretching into the future and the past and like all living things having the power to change out of all recognition and yet remain the same."

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George Santayana Philosopher, Poet
History

"History is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten. ...What is interesting is brought forward as if it had been central and efficacious in the march of events, and harmonies are turned into causes. Kings and generals are endowed with motives appropriate to what the historian values in their actions; plans are imputed to them prophetic of their actual achievements, while the thoughts that really preoccupied them remain buried in absolute oblivion."

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