Quotessence
Home / Topics / History Quotes

History Quotes

Browse 6202 quotes about History.

Related topics

MenArtPhilosophyIfsPastWarWorldPeopleHistoricalHumansHistorianKnowsMayRoman EmpireDoeThinkingScienceHas BeensNationsWritingFactsWayInspirationalWorld HistoryAmerican Civil WarCivil WarShouldEventsYearsAgeMindFirstsPoliticalGenerationsWantBritish HistoryHumourWholeCountryGivingWomenLifeMadeBelievePoliticsStatesLongMotivationalEndsWisdomAmericaNazi GermanyCenturyFunnyHandsLawMemoriesNazismFormLittlesMankindNeedsRaceRealStudyGovernmentLyingRealityWrittenCharacterCoursesHeartPrinciplesSeemsTwoBookIdeasIndividualLiteratureWellsMeanMightStillsActionCivilizationDoneLooksPersonsStoriesTeachBloodEnemyEyeMilitaryOrderRecordsViewsHappenedImportantReasonmore

History Quotes

“History teaches us no race, no people, no nation has ever been freed through cowardice, through cringing, through bowing and scraping, but all that has been achieved to the glory of mankind, to the glory and honour of races and nations was through the manly determination and effort of those who lead and those who are led.”

PeopleHas BeensNationsEffortRaceTeachHistoryMankindGloryDeterminationAfrican AmericanHonourCowardiceAmerican HistoryManlyScraping
Book:The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers, Vol. II: August 1919-August 1920
Create image

“In the old days it would have been a relatively simple matter to have checked Hitler's territorial ambitions. All you'd have needed would have been the 1914 combination of Britain, France and Russia. Indeed, if such an alliance had acted decisively to defend Czechoslovakia in 1938, Hitler might even have been overthrown by his own military. But it was not to be.”

IfsHas BeensMatterMightSimpleHistoryMilitaryNeededAmbitionRussiaFranceCombinationBritainAlliancesOld DaysTerritorialCzechoslovakia
Author:Niall Ferguson
Create image

“For girls and women, storytelling has a double and triple importance. Because the stories of our lives have been marginalized and ignored by history, and often dismissed and treated as 'gossip' within our own cultures and families, female human beings are more likely to be discouraged from telling our stories and from listening to each other with seriousness.”

HumansHas BeensStoriesCultureGirlHuman BeingsHistoryOur LivesListeningFemaleImportanceTreatedStorytellingGossipIgnoredDiscouragedSeriousnessMarginalized
Author:Gloria Steinem
Create image

“Although the progress of civilisation has undoubtedly contributed to assuage the fiercer passions of human nature, it seems to have been less favourable to the virtue of chastity, whose most dangerous enemy is the softness of the mind. The refinements of life corrupt while they polish the intercourse of the sexes. The gross appetite of love becomes most dangerous when it is elevated, or rather, indeed, disguised by sentimental passion.”

MindHumansHas BeensSeemsPassionSexLove IsEnemyHistoryVirtueProgressDangerousHuman NatureAppetiteSentimentalGrossPolishIntercourseCivilisationChastityRoman EmpireRefinementSoftness
Book:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Create image

“If the emperor had capriciously decreed the death of the most eminent and virtuous citizen of the republic, the cruel order would have been executed without hesitation by the ministers of open violence or of specious injustice. The caution, the delay, the difficulty with which he proceeded in the condemnation and punishment of a popular bishop, discovered to the world that the privileges of the church had already revived a sense of order and freedom in the Roman government.”

IfsWorldHas BeensGovernmentOrderChurchHistoryViolenceCitizensDifficultyInjusticePrivilegePunishmentMinistersRepublicVirtuousDelayCautionEmperorBishopsHesitationCondemnationRoman Empire
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)
Create image

“The valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or destroyed; and near twenty years afterwards, the appearance of the empty shelves excited the regret and indignation of every spectator whose mind was not totally darkened by religious prejudice. The compositions of ancient genius, so many of which have irretrievably perished, might surely have been excepted from the wreck of idolatry, for the amusement and instruction of succeeding ages.”

YearsMindHas BeensMightAgeReligiousHistoryRegretGeniusSucceedEmptyPrejudiceTwentiesLibraryAncientAppearanceExcitedValuableDestroyedInstructionCompositionShelvesAmusementSpectatorsWrecksIdolatryRoman EmpireIndignationAlexandriaReligious Prejudice
Book:The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume II: A.D. 395 to A.D. 1185 (A Modern Library E-Book)
Create image

“The ancients were destitute of many of the conveniences of life which have been invented or improved by the progress of industry; and the plenty of glass and linen has diffused more real comforts among the modern nations of Europe than the senators of Rome could derive from all the refinements of pompous or sensual luxury.”

Has BeensRealNationsHistoryProgressModernIndustryComfortEuropeGlassesLuxuryPlentySensualRomeSenatorsConvenienceRoman EmpireRefinementPompousDestituteLinen
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Create image

“But the desire of obtaining the advantages, and of escaping the burthens, of political society, is a perpetual and inexhaustible source of discord; nor can it reasonably be presumed that the restoration of British freedom was exempt from tumult and faction. The pre-eminence of birth and fortune must have been frequently violated by bold and popular citizens; and the haughty nobles, who complained that they were become the subjects of their own servants, would sometimes regret the reign of an arbitrary monarch.”

Has BeensSometimesPoliticalDesireHistorySubjectsRegretSourceBirthCitizensAdvantageFortuneBritishServantPerpetualReignArbitraryRestorationEscapingRoman EmpireFactionsMonarchsDiscordObtainingTumultEminenceHaughty
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Create image

“Racial discrimination in elections in Texas is no mere historical artifact. To the contrary, Texas has been found in violation of the Voting Rights Act in every redistricting cycle from and after 1970.”

Has BeensRealityFoundPoliticsJusticeHistoryDemocracyRightsGenerationsPolicyEqualEthicsConstitutionElectionHistoricalMereHuman RightsContraryDiscriminationIdeologyVotingCyclesTexasEqual RightsViolationDisobedienceCivil DisobedienceRight To VotePartisanshipRacial DiscriminationArtifactsVoting Rights ActRedistricting
Author:Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Create image

“Of course, in the reality of history, the Machiavellian view which glorifies the principle of violence has been able to dominate.Not the compromising conciliatory politics of humaneness, not the Erasmian, but rather the politics of vested power which firmly exploits every opportunity, politics in the sense of the "Principe," has determined the development of European history ever since.”

Has BeensRealityAbleCoursesOpportunityViewsPrinciplesHistoryViolenceDevelopmentEuropeDeterminedCompromiseExploitsGlorifyEuropean History
Author:Stefan Zweig
Create image

“Congress needs to send a strong signal that direct communication with the leader of the free world is a privilege, particularly for a regime that has been as hostile as Iran has been towards America for more than three decades. President Rouhani needs to take these two simple steps to demonstrate good faith before any further discussions.”

WorldNeedsHas BeensTwoRealityAmericaThreePoliticsStrongPresidentCommunityLeadershipJusticeSimpleLeaderStepsHistoryViolenceGenerationsPolicyCommunicationSpringDirectTradeStrategyCongressPrivilegeTerrorismDecadesIdeologyDiscussionIranRegimesForeign PolicySignalsHostileDiplomacyCivilityDisobedienceCivil DisobedienceFree WorldGood FaithArab SpringDirect Communication
Author:Ted Cruz
Create image

“The principle of free speech is no new doctrine born of the Constitution of the United States. It is a heritage of English-speaking peoples, which has been won by incalculable sacrifice, and which they must preserve so long as they hope to live as free men.”

MenLongHas BeensStatesBornFreedomUnitedResponsibilityPrinciplesHistoryUnited StatesSacrificeSpeechConstitutionDoctrinePreservesHeritageFree SpeechFree ManConstitution Of The United StatesEnglish SpeakingHope To Live
Author:Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
Create image

“Americans, more than most people, believe that history is the result of individual decisions to implement conscious intentions. For Americans, more than most people, history has been that.... This sense of openness, of possibility and autonomy, has been a national asset as precious as the topsoil of the Middle West. But like topsoil, it is subject to erosion; it requires tending. And it is not bad for Americans to come to terms with the fact that for them too, history is a story of inertia and the unforeseen.”

PeopleBelieveHas BeensFactsStoriesIndividualTermDecisionResultsHistoryMiddleSubjectsPossibilityConsciousIntentionWestAssetsOpennessAutonomyInertiaErosionUnforeseenTopsoil
Author:George Will
Create image

“To those who charge that liberalism has been tried and found wanting, I answer that the failure is not in the idea, but in the course of recent history. The New Deal was ended by World War II. The New Frontier was closed by Berlin and Cuba almost before it was opened. And the Great Society lost its greatness in the jungles of Indochina.”

WorldHas BeensIdeasWarCoursesFoundLostAnswersDealsHistoryMilitaryGreatnessFailureExcellenceWar Of The WorldsLiberalismWorld War IiWorld War IJungleFrontiersCubaBerlinNew DealGreat SocietyNew FrontiersIndochina
Author:George McGovern
Create image

“But without Adolf Hitler, who was possessed of a demonic personality, a granite will, uncanny instincts, a cold ruthlessness, a remarkable intellect, a soaring imagination and - until the end, when, drunk with power and success, he overreached himself - an amazing capacity to size up people and situations, there almost certainly would never have been a Third Reich.”

PeopleHas BeensEndsImaginationSituationHistoryColdPersonalityCapacityThirdsInstinctSizeIntellectDrunkRemarkablePossessedNaziSoarNazi GermanyDemonicUncannyGraniteRuthlessness
Author:William L. Shirer
Create image

“Man's history has been graven on the rock of Egypt, stamped on the brick of Assyria, enshrined in the marble of the Parthenon-it rises before us a majestic presence in the piled up arches of the Coliseum-it lurks an unsuspected treasure amid the oblivious dust of archives and monasteries-it is embodied in all the looms of religions, of races, of families.”

MenHas BeensScienceRaceHistoryRocksTreasureDustEgyptBricksMarbleFamily HistoryMajesticArchesObliviousArchivesMonasteriesParthenonColiseum
Book:Essays on Art and Archaeology
Create image

“The revealed and mystic literature of mankind bears ample testimony to the fact that religious experience has been too enduring and dominant in the history of mankind to be rejected as mere illusion. There seems to be no reason, then, to accept the normal level of human experience as fact and reject its other levels as mystical and emotional.”

HumansHas BeensReasonFactsSeemsLiteratureReligiousLevelsAcceptingHistoryMankindAcceptanceEmotionalBearsPoliticianNormalIllusionExperienceMereEndurePhilosopherRejectionNo ReasonRejectsLife ExperienceScholarRejectedDominantMysticalTestimonyHuman ExperienceRevealingMysticReligious Experience
Book:The religious thought in Islam
Create image

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall... think of it, always.”

ThinkingWayInspirationalHas BeensEndsSeemsMotivationalTruthRememberFallEvilPoliticsPeaceCommunityHistorySadnessSocietyTruth IsSadDespairAnd LoveHistoricalTyrantsNonviolenceLive In The MomentMurdererInvincibleNon ViolenceBeing At PeaceWhat Is LoveReally SadTruth And LoveMy TruthSad LifeTruth And JusticeSadness Of LifeGood EvilWay Of LoveSadness And LoveJustice TruthTriumph Over EvilEvil Love
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
Create image

“The white American man makes the white American woman maybe not superfluous but just a little kind of decoration. Not really important to turning around the wheels of the state. Well the black American woman has never been able to feel that way. No black American man at any time in our history in the United States has been able to feel that he didn't need that black woman right against him, shoulder to shoulder-in that cotton field, on the auction block, in the ghetto, wherever.”

MenWayNeedsFeelsWellsKindLittlesHas BeensImportantStatesAbleCultureBlackJusticeWhiteUnitedHistoryUnited StatesFieldsDiversitySocial JusticeShouldersBlockWheelsBlack WomenGhettoCottonSuperfluousDecorationAmerican WomanAuctionsWomen RightCotton Fields
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image