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History Quotes

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History Quotes

“A man that steps aside from the world and has leisure to observe it without interest and design, thinks all mankind as mad as they think him.”

Thinking Men World Art Philosophy Interest Steps History Mankind Design Mad Leisure

Author:E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax

“History is not written in the interests of morality.”

Interest History Written Morality

Author:Agnes Repplier

“All normal human beings are interested in their past. Only when the interest becomes an obsession, overshadowing present and future conduct, is it a danger. In much the same way healthy nations are interested in their history, but a morbid preoccupation with past glories is a sign that something is wrong with the constitution of the State.”

Way Humans States Past Nations Interest Human Beings History Danger Healthy Normal Glory Constitution Obsession Preoccupation Morbid Overshadowing

Author:C. V. Wedgwood

“That public virtue which among the ancients was denominated patriotism, is derived from a strong sense of our own interest in the preservation and prosperity of the free government of which we are members. Such a sentiment, which had rendered the legions of the republic almost invincible, could make but a very feeble impression on the mercenary servants of a despotic prince; and it became necessary to supply that defect by other motives, of a different, but not less forcible nature; honour and religion.”

Source: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition

“To resume, in a few words, the system of the Imperial government, as it was instituted by Augustus, and maintained by those princes who understood their own interest and that of the people, it may be defined an absolute monarchy disguised by the forms of a commonwealth. The masters of the Roman world surrounded their throne with darkness, concealed their irresistible strength, and humbly professed themselves the accountable ministers of the senate, whose supreme decrees they dictated and obeyed.”

Source: THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (All 6 Volumes): From the Height of the Roman Empire, the Age of Trajan and the Antonines - to the Fall of Byzantium; Including a Review of the Crusades, and the State of Rome during the Middle Ages

“Yet the arts of Severus cannot be justified by the most ample privileges of state reason. He promised only to betray; he flattered only to ruin; and however he might occasionally bind himself by oaths and treaties, his conscience, obsequious to his interest, always released him from the inconvenient obligation.”

Art States Reason Might Interest History Conscience Privilege Obligation Ruins Betray Justified Oath Treaties Roman Empire Inconvenient Flattered

Book:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Source: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

“The grateful applause of the clergy has consecrated the memory of a prince, who indulged their passions and promoted their interest. Constantine gave them security, wealth, honours, and revenge; and the support of the orthodox faith was considered as the most sacred and important duty of the civil magistrate. The edict of Milan, the great charter of toleration, had confirmed to each individual of the Roman world the privilege of choosing and professing his own religion.”

Source: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

“As long as the same passions and interests subsist among mankind, the questions of war and peace, of justice and policy, which were debated in the councils of antiquity, will frequently present themselves as the subject of modern deliberation.”

Long War Passion Interest Justice History Modern Subjects Mankind Policy Council Antiquity Roman Empire Deliberation

Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

“The laws of war, that restrain the exercise of national rapine and murder, are founded on two principles of substantial interest: the knowledge of the permanent benefits which may be obtained by a moderate use of conquest, and a just apprehension lest the desolation which we inflict on the enemy's country may be retaliated on our own. But these considerations of hope and fear are almost unknown in the pastoral state of nations.”

Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

“In astronomy, the law of gravitation is plainly better worth knowing than the position of a particular planet on a particular night, or even on every night throughout a year. There are in the law a splendour and simplicity and sense of mastery which illuminate a mass of otherwise uninteresting details. But in history the matter is far otherwise. Historical facts, many of them, have an intrinsic value, a profound interest on their own account, which makes them worthy of study, quite apart from any possibility of linking them together by means of causal laws.”

“A half-century after racing the Russians to the moon, the U.S. is barely suiting up in the international race to secure interests in the Arctic.”

Science Politics Energy Interest Nature Leadership Space Race Half History Technology Generations Century Policy Moon International Secure Ideology Racing Foreign Policy Diplomacy Arctic

Author:Rick Larsen

“For three decades, Senator Arlen Specter served the people of Pennsylvania with independence, toughness, determination and an unflinching devotion to the best interests of his constituents and our country. From the committee room to the Senate chamber, Senator Specter offered a voice of reason and passion in every debate - always willing to reach across the aisle and work across party lines to get the job done, regardless of political gamesmanship or gain.”

“History in the making is a very uncertain thing. It might be better to wait till the South American republic has got through withits twenty-fifth revolution before reading much about it. When it is over, some one whose business it is, will be sure to give you in a digested form all that it concerns you to know, and save you trouble, confusion, and time. If you will follow this plan, you will be surprised to find how new and fresh your interest in what you read will become.”

Ifs Knows Giving Might Form Reading Waiting Interest History Plans Trouble Revolution News Concern Twenties South Confusion Republic Uncertain Fifth

Author:Anna Brackett

“Imagination is always the fabric of social life and the dynamic of history. The influence of real needs and compulsions, of real interests and materials, is indirect because the crowd is never conscious of it.”

Needs Real Social Interest Imagination History Influence Materials Conscious Crowds Fabric My Imagination Compulsion Social Life Indirect

Book:Selected Essays: 1934-1943

Source: Selected Essays: 1934-1943

“The writing of history reflects the interests, predilections, and even prejudices of a given generation.”

Writing Given Interest History Generations Prejudice Historiography Writing History

Author:John Hope Franklin

“Since history has no properly scientific value, its only purpose is educative. And if historians neglect to educate the public, if they fail to interest it intelligently in the past, then all their historical learning is valueless except in so far as it educates themselves.”

Ifs Past Purpose Values Interest History Failing Historical Neglect Historian Educate Valueless

Author:G. M. Trevelyan

“What interests us about the past is at least partly a function of what bothers us or makes us curious in the present.”

Past Interest History Function Curious Bother

Author:Adam Garfinkle

“Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.”

People Facts Helping Force Interest History Danger Gains Determination Graves Inevitable Triumph Territory Hostility World War 2 Armed Forces Infamy December 7

Author:Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The recurrence of a phenomenon like Edison is not very likely. The profound change of conditions and the ever increasing necessity of theoretical training would seem to make it impossible. He will occupy a unique and exalted position in the history of his native land, which might well be proud of his great genius and undying achievements in the interest of humanity.”

“The history of the past interests us only in so far as it illuminates the history of the present.”

Past Interest History Historical

Author:Ernest Dimnet

“It is thus necessary that the individual should finally come to realize that his own ego is of no importance in comparison with the existence of the nation, that the position of the individual is conditioned solely by the interests of the nation as a whole.”

Should Whole Individual Nations Interest Realizing Existence History Position Ego Importance Comparison Nazism Nazi Germany

Book:Adolf Hitler from Speeches 1933-1938

Source: Adolf Hitler from Speeches 1933-1938

“In the election campaign of 1930, Hitler seldom spoke explicitly of Jews. The crude tirades of the early 1920s were missing altogether. 'Living-space' figured more prominently, posed against the alternative international competition for markets ... The key theme now was the collapse of Germany under parliamentary democracy and party government into a divided people with separate and conflicting interests, which only the NSDAP could overcome by creating a new unity of the nation, transcending class, estate and profession.”

“People want to know why the South is so interested in the Civil War. I had maybe, it's a rough guess, about fifty fistfights in my life. Out of those fifty fistfights, the ones that I had the most vivid memory of were the ones I lost. I think that's one reason why the South remembers the war more than the North does.”

People Thinking Knows Want Doe War Reason Remember Fighting Winning Lost Interest Memories Loss History South Reason Why Civil War Fifty Rough Fists Vivid Vivid Memories

Author:Shelby Foote

“Never appeal to a man's 'better nature.' He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.”

Men Giving May Self Interest Nature History Appeals Self Interest

Book:Time Enough for Love

Source: Time Enough for Love