Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Judith Herrin

Quote by Judith Herrin

“In this sense, Byzantine culture embodies the French historian Fernand Braudel's notion of the longue durée, the long term: that which survives the vicissitudes of changing governments, newfangled fashions or technological improvements, an ongoing inheritance that can both imprison and inspire.”

Quote by Judith Herrin

Work

Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Judith Herrin

Judith Herrin is a renowned British historian specializing in the history of medieval Europe and the Islamic world. Born in 1942, she is known for her in-depth analysis of the cultural exchanges between medieval Europe and the Islamic world. more

You May Also Like

“And should there exist someone endowed with the beauty of a statue and the lyrical eloquence of a nightingale in song, gifted, moreover, with ready wit, then the wearer of the crown can neither sleep nor rest, but his sleep is interrupted, his voluptuousness suppressed, his appetite for pleasure lost, and he is filled with grave apprehensions; with wicked tongue he curses the creator nature for fashioning others suitable to rule and for not making him the first and last and the fairest of men.”

“Wars against the barbarians, with all their attendant trials and tribulations he was prepared to face himself, but the entire administration of affairs, the choice of civil magistrates, the accounts of the imperial revenues and expenditure he left to his mother. At this point the reader may well censure him for transferring the government of the Empire to the gynaeconitis, but had he known this woman’s spirit, her surpassing virtue, intelligence and energy, his reproaches would soon have turned to admiration. For my grandmother had an exceptional grasp of public affairs, with a genius for organization and government; she was capable, in fact, of managing not only the Roman Empire, but every other empire under the sun as well.”

“Happiness is surrounding yourself only with those who bestow their unconditional love and support.”

“This family is bound through truth and trials, the loves that compass our life, for in forgiveness, we overcome the refuge of bitterness and lies. We are sustained by compassion, and we will endure as the sun’s fusion core churns, and the darkness flees from its majesty thrown across the solar system’s expanse. It is the mysterious fusion in love that gives us our strength and powers us so.”