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History Quotes

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History Quotes

“In the twelfth century the Basque fishermen of Biarritz used to hunt whales with deadly efficiency. When the whales sensibly moved away, the Basques chased them further and further, with the consequence that the fishermen of Biarritz discovered America before Columbus did. This is a matter for local pride but on a larger view it is not quite so stunning, since with the possible exception of the Swiss everybody discovered America before Columbus did.”

MatterAmericaUsedViewsHistoryCenturyHumourPrideConsequenceMovedLocalsExceptionEfficiencyHuntsWhalesFishermanStunningColumbusSwissBasques
Book:Flying Visits
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“History is a great painter, with the world for canvas, and life for a figure. It exhibits man in his pride, and nature in her magnificence,--Jerusalem bleeding under the Roman, or Lisbon vanishing in flame and earthquake. History must be splendid. Bacon called it the pomp of business. Its march is in high places, and along the pinnacles and points of great affairs.”

MenWorldHistoryFiguresPrideAffairPainterFlamesMarchCanvasSplendidEarthquakesBleedingExhibitsJerusalemMagnificenceVanishingPinnacleHigh Places
Author:Robert Aris Willmott
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“Agriculture is the foundation of manufactures; since the productions of nature are the materials of art. Under the Roman empire, the labour of an industrious and ingenious people was variously, but incessantly employed, in the service of the rich. In their dress, their table, their houses, and their furniture, the favourites of fortune united every refinement of conveniency, of elegance, and of splendour, whatever could soothe their pride or gratify their sensuality.”

PeopleArtHouseUnitedHistoryRichMaterialsPrideDressesTablesFoundationFortuneProductionsSensualityEmpiresLabourAgricultureEmployedFurnitureEleganceRoman EmpireRefinementIngeniousIndustriousIncessantlySplendour
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1: With Maps
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“The manly pride of the Romans, content with substantial power, had left to the vanity of the East the forms and ceremonies of ostentatious greatness. But when they lost even the semblance of those virtues which were derived from their ancient freedom, the simplicity of Roman manners was insensibly corrupted by the stately affectation of the courts of Asia.”

FormLostLeftHistoryVirtueGreatnessPrideCourtSimplicityAncientEastVanityMannersAsiaCeremonyManlyRoman EmpireSemblanceOstentatious
Book:History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“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.”

SometimesSpiritHistoryVirtueStudyPrideHeroReflectionAdvantageFortuneSlaveAncientDareWorthyTyrantsThronesSageDefectsRoman EmpireCensureCapriceNot WorthyInsensible
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)
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“When Julian ascended the throne, he declared his impatience to embrace and reward the Syrian sophist, who had preserved, in a degenerate age, the Grecian purity of taste, of manners and of religion. The emperor's prepossession was increased and justified by the discreet pride of his favourite.”

AgeHistoryPrideTasteEmbraceRewardsMannersPurityFavouriteThronesJustifiedImpatienceEmperorRoman EmpireDegeneratesDiscreet
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“A people who still remembered that their ancestors had been the masters of the world would have applauded, with conscious pride, the representation of ancient freedom, if they had not long since been accustomed to prefer the solid assurance of bread to the unsubstantial visions of liberty and greatness.”

PeopleIfsWorldLongStillsLibertyVisionHistoryGreatnessMastersPrideConsciousAncientBreadRememberedAncestorRepresentationAssuranceAccustomedRoman Empire
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“Even here in America, we felt the cool, refreshing breeze of freedom when Nelson Mandela took the seat of Presidency in his country where formerly he was not even allowed to vote. We were enlarged by tears of pride as we saw Nelson Mandela's former prison guards invited, courteously, by him to watch from the front rows his inauguration.”

CountryWisdomRealityAmericaPoliticsFeltCommunityLeadershipJusticeClassWatchesHistorySawsGenerationsFrontsTearsPrideEqualEthicsVotePrisonUnityHuman RightsIndividualityIdeologyFormerSeatsPresidencyInvitedBreezeEqual RightsCivilityDisobedienceCivil DisobedienceRefreshingNelsonInaugurationPrison GuardsMandela S
Author:Maya Angelou
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“History consists, for the greater part, of the miseries brought upon the world by pride, ambition, avarice, revenge, lust, sedition, hypocrisy, ungoverned zeal, and all the train of disorderly appetite.”

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Book:Reflections on the Revolution in France and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event: 1790
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“What is a novel if not a conviction of our fellow men's existence strong enough to take upon itself a form of imagined life clearer than reality and whose accumulated verisimilitude of selected episodes puts to shame the pride of documentary history.”

IfsMenEnoughRealityFormStrongExistenceHistoryNovelPrideShameFellowsConvictionEpisodesDocumentariesFellow ManStrong EnoughSelected
Book:The Complete Works of Joseph Conrad
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