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History Quotes

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History Quotes

“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.”

PeopleThinkingStatesWholeAmericaPoliticalHistoryVirtueAtheismHeroConceptsFolksBlowPositive AtheismPresidentialUsaSkepticismDiseasedIrreverence
Book:Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader
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“The image of a free constitution was preserved with decent reverence: the Roman senate appeared to possess the sovereign authority, and devolved on the emperors all the executive powers of government. During a happy period (A.D. 98-180) of more than fourscore years, the public administration was conducted by the virtue and abilities of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines.”

YearsTwoGovernmentAbilityHistoryVirtuePeriodsAuthorityConstitutionAdministrationDecentExecutivesSenateReverenceSovereignEmperorRoman EmpireExecutive PowerHadrian
Book:The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition
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“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.”

DifferentGovernmentStrongInterestHistoryVirtueMembersProsperityImpressionServantMotiveSentimentsRepublicHonourPreservationDefectsInvincibleRoman EmpireLegionFree GovernmentMercenary
Book:The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition
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“The two Antonines (for it is of them that we are now speaking) governed the Roman world forty-two years, with the same invariable spirit of wisdom and virtue. ... Their united reigns are possibly the only period of history in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government.”

PeopleWorldYearsTwoGovernmentSpiritUnitedHistoryVirtueObjectsPeriodsFortyTwo YearsSoleReignGreat PeopleRoman Empire
Book:The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition
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“The virtue of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was of a severer and more laborious kind. It was the well-earned harvest of many a learned conference, of many a patient lecture, and many a midnight lucubration. At the age of twelve years, he embraced the rigid system of the Stoics, which taught him to submit his body to his mind, his passions to his reason; to consider virtue as the only good, vice as the only evil, all things external as things indifferent.”

YearsMindWellsKindReasonBodyAgePassionEvilHistoryVirtueTaughtAll ThingsPatientVicesTwelveSubmitIndifferentHarvestMidnightConferencesLecturesRoman Empire
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“Although the progress of civilisation has undoubtedly contributed to assuage the fiercer passions of human nature, it seems to have been less favourable to the virtue of chastity, whose most dangerous enemy is the softness of the mind. The refinements of life corrupt while they polish the intercourse of the sexes. The gross appetite of love becomes most dangerous when it is elevated, or rather, indeed, disguised by sentimental passion.”

MindHumansHas BeensSeemsPassionSexLove IsEnemyHistoryVirtueProgressDangerousHuman NatureAppetiteSentimentalGrossPolishIntercourseCivilisationChastityRoman EmpireRefinementSoftness
Book:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“The love of action is a principle of a much stronger and more doubtful nature. It often leads to anger, to ambition, and to revenge; but when it is guided by the sense of propriety and benevolence, it becomes the parent of every virtue, and, if those virtues are accompanied with equal abilities, a family, a state, or an empire may be indebted for their safety and prosperity to the undaunted courage of a single man.”

IfsMenMayStatesActionParentAbilityPrinciplesHistoryVirtueEqualAmbitionStrongerSafetyProsperityRevengeEmpiresBenevolenceDoubtfulRoman EmpireProprietyIndebtedSingle ManUndaunted
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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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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“The barbarians of Germany had felt, and still dreaded, the arms of the young Caesar; his soldiers were the companions of his victory; the grateful provincials enjoyed the blessings of his reign; but the favourites, who had opposed his elevation, were offended by his virtues; and they justly considered the friend of the people as the enemy of the court.”

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Book:The 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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“Fashion was the only law, pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendour of dress and furniture was the only distinction of the citizens of Antioch. The arts of luxury were honoured; the serious and manly virtues were the subject of ridicule; and the contempt for female modesty and reverent age announced the universal corruption of the capital of the East.”

ArtAgeLawPleasureHistoryVirtueSubjectsFashionSeriousCitizensFemaleUniversalDressesCorruptionEastPursuitLuxuryDistinctionContemptModestyRidiculeFurnitureManlyRoman EmpireSplendourAntioch
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“The orator, who may be silent without danger, may praise without difficulty and without reluctance; and posterity will confess that the character of Theodosius might furnish the subject of a sincere and ample panegyric. The wisdom of his laws and the success of his arms rendered his administration respectable in the eyes both of his subjects and of his enemies. He loved and practised the virtues of domestic life, which seldom hold their residence in the palaces of kings.”

MayCharacterMightEyeLawEnemyHistoryVirtueSubjectsDangerArmsKingsDifficultyPraiseSilentAdministrationSincerePalacesPosterityRespectableRoman EmpireOratorsReluctanceResidenceDomestic Life
Book:The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume II: A.D. 395 to A.D. 1185 (A Modern Library E-Book)
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“You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.”

InspirationalMatterHumorMotivationalGrowthKnowledgeHistoryGrowing UpLearningVirtueWiseGrowingWise WordsPersonal GrowthLawyerPresidentialCuteGrandmotherTallGrandfatherGrandparentGrandchildrenMy GrandmotherMy GrandfatherGrandpaLive And LearnChildren And GrandchildrenMy GrandchildrenGrandkidsParents And GrandparentsLife LearningBeing IrishIreland And The IrishYou Live And You LearnYour GrandmotherGrandparents DayChildren Growing UpGreat GrandfatherGrandchildren And GrandparentsGrandparents From GrandchildrenChange And GrowthMother And GrandmotherGreat GrandparentsFunny GrandparentGrandmother And GrandchildrenMother GrandmotherFunny GrandmotherBeing A GrandmotherHappy Mothers Day GrandmotherFunny GrandchildrenIntellectual GrowthNana's And GrandchildrenFathers And GrandfathersGrandmas And MomsBeing A GrandmaIrish ProverbsMothers Day GrandmaFunny IrishGreat GrandpaGrandfather DiedKids InspirationalIrish Family
Author:Abraham Lincoln
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“To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”

WorldKindChildrenRealityCareAmericaPastCausesHistoryVirtueModernBirthLosingOneselfCatholicismQuarrelsModern WorldRebelliousHappy EndingsCivicsNonconformity
Book:Memories Of A Catholic Girlhood
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“Historical chronology, human or geological, depends... upon comparable impersonal principles. If one scribes with a stylus on a plate of wet clay two marks, the second crossing the first, another person on examining these marks can tell unambiguously which was made first and which second, because the latter event irreversibly disturbs its predecessor. In virtue of the fact that most of the rocks of the earth contain imprints of a succession of such irreversible events, an unambiguous working out of the chronological sequence of these events becomes possible.”

IfsFirstsHumansPersonsMadeTwoFactsEarthSciencePrinciplesHistoryVirtueRocksEventsDependsMarkHistoricalWork OutLatterWetPlatesClaySequenceSuccessionCrossingsExaminingPredecessorsIrreversibleChronologyScribes
Author:M. King Hubbert
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