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History Quotes

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History Quotes

“We are scattered, stunned; the remnant of heart left alive is filled with brotherly hate... Whose fault? Everybody blamed somebody else. Only the dead heroes left stiff and stark on the battlefield escape.”

Heart War Hate Left History Alive Hero Filled Faults Civil War Battlefields American Civil War Starks Stunned Remnants Brotherly

Author:Mary Boykin Chesnut

“I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.”

Source: Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader

“History is made by masses of people. One man, or ten men, don't start the earthquakes and don't stop them either. Only hero worshipers and ignorant historians think they do.”

People Thinking Men Made History Hero Ten Mass Ignorant One Man Historian Earthquakes Hero Worship

Book:The Searching Wind: A Play in Two Acts

Source: The Searching Wind: A Play in Two Acts

“The lessons of the past suggest that racism and resentment against people of color will continue to flourish in America as long as the history that is taught transposes the heroes and the villains. That is the unspoken truth at the heart of the nation's racial divide.”

People Heart Long America Past Nations History Taught Color Hero Lessons Racism Divides Villain Resentment Unspoken Lessons Of The Past

Book:Lessons in Living

Source: Lessons in Living

“Most American heroes of the Revolutionary period are by now two men, the actual man and the romantic image. Some are even three men - the actual man, the image, and the debunked remains.”

Men Two Three History Hero Periods Remains Revolutionary American Hero

Author:Esther Forbes

“Julian was not insensible of the advantages of freedom. From his studies he had imbibed the spirit of ancient sages and heroes; his life and fortunes had depended on the caprice of a tyrant; and, when he ascended the throne, his pride was sometimes mortified by the reflection that the slaves who would not dare to censure his defects were not worthy to applaud his virtues.”

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)

“Why I love the ancients so much? Aside from everything else, when I read them, the entire past between them and me unfolds at thesame time. The hearts of how many heroes and poets may have been set on fire by Plutarch's biographies which now inspire me with their own and with borrowed flames!”

Heart May Has Beens Past Reading History Fire Inspire Poet Hero Flames Biographies Borrowed

Author:Franz Grillparzer

“I'll tell you...why Wonder Woman worked. Or Bionic Woman. Or any of those [shows] really. It was because it wasn't about brawn...it was about brains. And yes, she happened to be beautiful, she happened to be kind of extraordinary in some way, but she wasn't a guy. And I think that, [now], they...put out a female hero, and all they are doing is changing the costume from a man to a woman...they're not showcasing any of the tremendous dichotomies than women possess in term of softness and toughness, sweetness and grit, inner and outer strength.”

“History, like love, is so apt to surround her heroes with an atmosphere of imaginary brightness.”

Love Love Is History Hero Atmosphere Surround Imaginary Brightness Like Love

Author:James F. Cooper

“Political history is far too criminal to be a fit subject of study for the young. Children should acquire their heroes and villians from fiction.”

Should Children Young Political Fiction History Study Subjects Hero Fit Criminals Acquire Young Children Political History

Author:W. H. Auden

“Heroes and scholars represent the opposite extremes... The scholar struggles for the benefit of all humanity, sometimes to reduce physical effort, sometimes to reduce pain, and sometimes to postpone death, or at least render it more bearable. In contrast, the patriot sacrifices a rather substantial part of humanity for the sake of his own prestige. His statue is always erected on a pedestal of ruins and corpses... In contrast, all humanity crowns a scholar, love forms the pedestal of his statues, and his triumphs defy the desecration of time and the judgment of history.”

“Heroism feels and never reasons, and therefore is always right.”

Feels Reason History Military Hero Heroic Heroism

Book:Essays and Lectures

Source: Essays and Lectures

“My ideal man is Benjamin Franklin-the figure in American history most worthy of emulation ... Franklin is my ideal of a whole man. ... Where are the life-size-or even pint-size-Benjamin Franklins of today?”

Men Whole Today History Figures Hero Ideals Size Worthy American History Franklin Pints Emulation Ideal Man Life Size

Author:Isidor Isaac Rabi

“The year 1896 ... marked the beginning of what has been aptly termed the heroic age of Physical Science. Never before in the history of physics has there been witnessed such a period of intense activity when discoveries of fundamental importance have followed one another with such bewildering rapidity.”

Years Has Beens Age Science History Hero Periods Activity Discovery Importance Fundamentals Physics Intense Heroic Physical Science

Author:Ernest Rutherford

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

“If there had been a strong democratic sentiment in Germany, Hitler would never have come to power . [Germans] deserved what they got when they went round crying for a hero.”

Ifs Strong History Cry Hero Democratic Rounds Germany Sentiments Nazism Nazi Germany

Author:A. J. P. Taylor