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History Quotes

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History Quotes

“It is sometimes very hard to tell the difference between history and the smell of skunk.”

Sometimes Hard Differences History Smell

Book:Black lamb and grey falcon: a journey through Yugoslavia

Source: Black lamb and grey falcon: a journey through Yugoslavia

“Iraq's invasion of Kuwait is a case of bad men doing wrong things for wicked reasons. This is the full-sized or standard purebred evil and is easily recognized even by moral neophytes. Other malignities-drugs in America, famine in Africa and everything in the Middle East-are more complex. When combating those evils people sometimes have trouble deciding whom to shoot.”

Source: Give War a Chance: Eyewitness Accounts of Mankind's Struggle Against Tyranny, Injustice, and Alcohol-Free Beer

“History sometimes acts as madly as heredity, and her most unpredictable performances are often her most glorious.”

Sometimes History Performances Glorious Unpredictable Heredity

Book:Black lamb and grey falcon: a journey through Yugoslavia

Source: Black lamb and grey falcon: a journey through Yugoslavia

“The philosopher, who with calm suspicion examines the dreams and omens, the miracles and prodigies, of profane or even of ecclesiastical history, will probably conclude that, if the eyes of the spectators have sometimes been deceived by fraud, the understanding of the readers has much more frequently been insulted by fiction.”

Source: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire V2: the History Focus

“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)

“Instructed by history and reflection, Julian was persuaded that, if the diseases of the body may sometimes be cured by salutary violence, neither steel nor fire can eradicate the erroneous opinions of the mind.”

Ifs Mind May Sometimes Body Opinion History Fire Violence Disease Reflection Steel Roman Empire

Book:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Source: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

“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.”

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

“Sometimes it can seem that history is turning in a wide arc, toward an unknown shore. Yet the destination of history is determined by human action, and every great movement of history comes to a point of choosing.”

Humans Sometimes Seems Action History Movement Determined Wide Destination Shore Arcs Human Actions

Author:George W. Bush

“A battle sometimes decides everything; and sometimes the most trifling thing decides the fate of a battle.”

Sometimes History Fate Battle Trifling

Author:Napoleon Bonaparte

“Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography.”

Thinking Way War Sometimes Humor Funny History Comedy Teaching Humour Army Comedian Geography Funny Relationship Funny Comedian Geography Teachers

Author:Paul Rodriguez

“When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.”

People Thinking Inspirational Littles Art Different Sometimes Philosophy Motivational Brain History Bears Criticism Cute Winni The Pooh Winnie The Pooh Life Winnie The Pooh Inspirational Winnie The Pooh Book

Author:A. A. Milne

“History never repeats itself; at best it sometimes rhymes.”

Sometimes History Repeats Rhyme

Author:Mark Twain

“Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.”

Ideas Sometimes Use History Building New Ideas Old Ideas Old Buildings Abandoned Buildings

Book:The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Source: The Death and Life of Great American Cities

“Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is what happened on the banks.”

“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.”

“Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than Dr. Butler's school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else being taught, except a little ancient geography and history. The school as a means of education to me was simply a blank. During my whole life I have been singularly incapable of mastering any language. Especial attention was paid to versemaking, and this I could never do well. I had many friends, and got together a good collection of old verses, which by patching together, sometimes aided by other boys, I could work into any subject.”

Source: Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: the Evolution

“It is sometimes suggested that the [Nazi economic] recovery was a product of a specific fascist economic strategy, which distinguished it from the recovery efforts of other capitalist states. While few would disagree that the Nazi regime had a number of clear ideological preferences when it came to the economy, the policies pursued in 1933 had much in common with those adopted in other countries, and with the policies of the pre-Hitler governments.”

“Very few of the great leaders ever get through their careers without failing, sometimes dramatically.”

Sometimes Leader Careers History Failing Drama Dignity Great Leader

Author:Phil Crosby