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History Quotes

Browse 6202 quotes about History.

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History Quotes

“What is a great man who has made his mark upon history? Every time, if we think far enough, he is a man who has looked through the confusion of the moment and has seen the moral issue involved; he is a man who has refused to have his sense of justice distorted; he has listened to his conscience until conscience becomes a trumpet call to like-minded men, so that they gather about him, and together, with mutual purpose and mutual aid, they make a new period in history.”

IfsThinkingMenMadeEnoughMomentsTogetherPurposeJusticeMoralHistoryIssuesInvolvedPeriodsConscienceMarkAidsConfusionGreat MenMutualTrumpetsMoral IssuesMutual Aid
Author:Jane Addams
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“I believe that the 21st century economy is an economy of people, not of factories. The intellectual factor has become increasingly important in the economy, which is why we are planning to focus on providing additional opportunities for people to realise their potential.”

PeopleThinkingOpportunityResponsibilityHistoryPowerEconomyPlansEconomicCenturyHonestyDevelopmentCreatingIntellectualAspectEconomicsDebtSocialismRealisingFactories21st CenturyTaxationEconomic Development
Author:Vladimir Putin
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“We must contemplate some extremely unpleasant possibilities, just because we want to avoid them and achieve something better. Nobody, however, likes to think about anything unpleasant, even to avoid it. And so the crucial problem of thermonuclear war is frequently dispatched with the label 'War is unthinkable' -- which, translated freely, means we don't want to think about it.”

ThinkingWantMeanWarProblemHistoryLearningAchievePossibilityLikesLabelsCrucialContemplatingSomething BetterUnthinkableNuclear War
Author:Albert Wohlstetter
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“Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of the wily agitator who induces him to desert? I think that in such a cse to silence the agitator and save the boy is not only constitutional but withal a great mercy.”

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Book:Abraham Lincoln, a Documentary Portrait Through His Speeches and Writings
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“In general, life is better than it has ever been, and if you think that, in the past, there was some golden age of pleasure and plenty to which you would, if you were able, transport yourself, let me say one single word : Dentistry.”

IfsThinkingAgeAblePastLife IsPleasureHistoryHumourLet MeGoldenPlentyTransportGolden AgeSingle WordDentistry
Book:All the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Famine, Ecological Disaster, Ethnic Hatred, Plague, and Poverty
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“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.”

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Book:Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader
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“If people like to read their books, it is all very well, but to be at so much trouble in filling great volumes, which, as I used to think, nobody would willingly ever look into, to be labouring only for the torment of little boys and girls, always struck me as a hard fate.”

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Book:Jane Austen: The Works in Eight Volumes
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“History is not truth versus falsehoods, but a mixture of both, a mélange of tendencies, reactions, dreams, errors, and power plays. What's important is what we make of it; its moral use. By writing history, we can widen readers' thinking and deepen their sympathies in every direction. Perhaps history should show us not how to control the world, but how to enlarge, deepen, and discipline ourselves.”

ThinkingWorldShouldWritingImportantPlayUseShowsDreamMoralHistoryReaderDisciplineErrorsReactionsTendenciesFalsehoodVersusMixturesWhat's ImportantWriting HistoryPower Play
Book:Heart Mountain
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“It is undeniable that others and the larger world, so beleaguered at this moment in history, need everything that we have to give. But what to give is the problem. It seems finally clear that we cannot find out what to do simply by thinking about it. We need to gain our inspiration and our direction from much deeper sources.”

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Book:Touching Enlightenment: Finding Realization in the Body
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“Shakespeare, who never could think up a plot by himself, found this one [Macbeth] in Holinshed's Chronicles, changing it just enough so that no one would recognize the source. He didn't count on the resourcefulness of modern scholars, who have to discover things like this to become associate professors.”

ThinkingEnoughFoundHistoryModernSourcePlotProfessorsScholarAssociatesChroniclesResourcefulness
Book:Twisted Tales from Shakespeare, in which Shakespeare's Best-known Plays are Presented in a New Light: The Old Light Having Blown a Fuse; Together with Introductions, Questions, Appendices, and Other Critical Apparatus Intended to Contribute to a Clearer Misunderstanding of the Subject
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“It seems to us unwise to have insisted on teaching geometry to the younger Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, in order to make him a good king, but from Plato's point of view it was essential. He was sufficiently Pythagorean to think that without mathematics no true wisdom is possible.”

ThinkingSeemsOrderViewsHistoryTeachingKingsEssentialsMathematicsPoint Of ViewTyrantsPlatoGeometryUnwiseTrue WisdomPlato SGood KingsSyracuse
Book:History of Western Philosophy: Collectors Edition
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“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men's reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”

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Book:Occasions and protests
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“For if I should not believe all that is written by Historians, of the glorious acts of Alexander, or Caesar; I do not think the Ghost of Alexander, or Caesar, had any just cause to be offended; or any body else, but the Historian. If Livy say the Gods made once a Cow speak, and we believe it not; we distrust not God therein, but Livy. So that it is evident, that whatsoever we believe, upon no other reason, then what is drawn from authority of men only, and their writings; whether they be sent from God or not, is Faith in men only.”

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Book:Hobbes: Leviathan: Revised student edition
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“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.”

ThinkingMenWayKindShowsRealityBeautifulGuyTermCommunityLeadershipBrainWonderHistoryGenerationsHappenedFashionHuman NatureHeroFemaleStrategyExtraordinaryIndividualityIdeologyBe KindSweetnessCostumesGritToughnessSoftnessDichotomyWonder WomanBionics
Author:Lynda Carter
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“In any conflict area, it is always the women who are the first point of attack. But I think the more they have seen of oppression and violence, they have gotten more brave, more strong, more fearless than they were. You see this refusal to just keep quiet and do as you are told.”

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Author:Fatima Bhutto
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“I am provoked at the contempt which most historians show for humanity in general; one would think by them, that the whole human species consisted but of about a hundred and fifty people, called and dignified (commonly very undeservedly too) by the titles of Emperors, Kings, Popes, Generals, and Ministers.”

PeopleThinkingHumansWholeShowsHumanityHistoryKingsHundredSpeciesTitlesMinistersFiftyHistorianContemptPopeEmperorHuman SpeciesProvoked
Author:Lord Chesterfield
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“I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot... when you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result.”

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Book:I can't accept not trying: Michael Jordan on the pursuit of excellence
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“I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.”

ThinkingInspirationalKindSuccessNatureLeadershipQualityHistoryFocusHard WorkExerciseEssentialsOvercomingPerseverancePersistenceFitnessBusiness SuccessPersistPersistentGreat SuccessMotivational SalesDetermination And SuccessInspirational SuccessDetermination MotivationalGreatest SuccessInspirational PerseveranceDetermination And PersistenceInspirational DeterminationPerseverencePersonal SuccessInspirational SalesPatience And PerseveranceGreat SalesBusiness PersonMotivation And DeterminationGreatest SalesFitness WorkoutDedication And PerseveranceHave A Great DaySelf PerseverancePerseverance MotivationalPerseverance In LovePowerful MotivationalPerseverance And Hard WorkSales Success
Author:John D. Rockefeller
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