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History Quotes

“Man has existed for about a million years. He has possessed writing for about 6,000 years, agriculture somewhat longer, but perhaps not much longer. Science, as a dominant factor in determining the belief of educated men, has existed for about 300 years; as a source of economic technique, for about 150 years. In this brief period it has proved itself an incredibly powerful revolutionary force. When we consider how recently it has risen to power, we find ourselves forced to believe that we are at the very beginning of its work in transforming human life.”

MenWritingYearsBelieveHumansScienceBeliefForcePowerfulHistoryMillionsPowerLearningEconomicSourcePeriodsEconomicsTechniqueFactorsEducatedHuman LifeRevolutionaryPossessedAgricultureDominantTransformingRisenEducated Man
Book:The Impact of Science On Society
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“Although it is tempting to imagine an ancient era innocent of biochemical weaponry, in fact this Pandora's box of horrors was opened thousands of years ago. The history of making war with biological weapons begins in mythology, in ancient oral traditions that preserved records of actual events and ideas of the era before the invention of written histories.”

YearsIdeasWarFactsHistoryRecordsImagineWrittenEventsHorrorWeaponsYears AgoTraditionAncientBoxesMythologyInventionInnocentErasTemptingWeaponryPandoraBiological WeaponsOral TraditionPandora's BoxWritten History
Author:Adrienne Mayor
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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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“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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“The comparative view of the powers of the magistrates, in two remarkable instances, is alone sufficient to represent the whole system of German manners. The disposal of the landed property within their district was absolutely vested in their hands, and they distributed it every year according to a new division. At the same time, they were not authorised to punish with death, to imprison, or even to strike, a private citizen.”

YearsTwoWholeHandsViewsHistoryCitizensPropertyStrikesInstanceMannersSufficientRemarkableDivisionRoman EmpireMagistrates
Book:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“Julian sincerely abhorred the system of oriental despotism which Diocletian, Constantine, and the patient habits of four score years, had established in the empire. A motive of superstition prevented the execution of the design which Julian had frequently meditated, of relieving his head from the weight of a costly diadem; but he absolutely refused the title of Dominus or Lord, a word which was grown so familiar to the ears of the Romans, that they no longer remembered its servile and humiliating origin.”

YearsLordHistoryFourDesignHabitEarsWeightPatientFamiliarTitlesRememberedMotiveScoreEmpiresSuperstitionsExecutionSincerelyDespotismRoman EmpireHumiliatingConstantine
Book:The Modern Library Essential World History 4-Book Bundle: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Abridged); Montcalm and Wolfe; History of the Conquest of Mexico; The Naval War of 1812
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“The emperor of the East was no longer guided by the wisdom and authority of his elder brother, whose death happened towards the end of the preceding year: and, as the distressful situation of the Goths required an instant and peremptory decision, he was deprived of the favourite resource of feeble and timid minds; who consider the use of dilatory and ambiguous measures as the most admirable efforts of consummate prudence.”

YearsMindEndsUseDecisionEffortSituationHistoryHappenedBrotherAuthorityResourcesEastInstantFavouriteEldersPrudenceDeprivedEmperorAdmirableRoman EmpireAmbiguousGoth
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“Constantinople was the principal seat and fortress of Arianism; and, in a long interval of forty years, the faith of the princes and prelates who reigned in the capital of the East was rejected in the purer schools of Rome and Alexandria.”

YearsLongSchoolHistoryEastSeatsFortyRomePrincipalRejectedRoman EmpireIntervalsFortressesAlexandriaConstantinople
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“The valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or destroyed; and near twenty years afterwards, the appearance of the empty shelves excited the regret and indignation of every spectator whose mind was not totally darkened by religious prejudice. The compositions of ancient genius, so many of which have irretrievably perished, might surely have been excepted from the wreck of idolatry, for the amusement and instruction of succeeding ages.”

YearsMindHas BeensMightAgeReligiousHistoryRegretGeniusSucceedEmptyPrejudiceTwentiesLibraryAncientAppearanceExcitedValuableDestroyedInstructionCompositionShelvesAmusementSpectatorsWrecksIdolatryRoman EmpireIndignationAlexandriaReligious Prejudice
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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“At the hour of midnight the Salerian gate was silently opened, and the inhabitants were awakened by the tremendous sound of the Gothic trumpet. Eleven hundred and sixty-three years after the foundation of Rome, the Imperial city, which had subdued and civilised so considerable a part of mankind, was delivered to the licentious fury of the tribes of Germany and Scythia.”

YearsThreeSoundHoursCitiesHistoryMankindHundredFoundationGermanyGatesRomeThree YearsSixtyTribesMidnightFuryGothicElevenAwakenedTrumpetsRoman EmpireCivilised
Author:Edward Gibbon
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“In less than seven years the vestiges of the Gothic invasion were almost obliterated, and the city appeared to resume its former splendour and tranquillity. The venerable matron replaced her crown of laurel, which had been ruffled by the storms of war, and was still amused in the last moment of her decay with the prophecies of revenge, of victory, and of eternal dominion.”

YearsStillsWarMomentsLastsCitiesHistoryVictoryEternalSevenStormRevengeFormerDecayCrownsReplacedProphecySeven YearsInvasionGothicDominionRoman EmpireAmusedResumesLaurelsTranquillitySplendour
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“The division of the Roman world between the sons of Theodosius marks the final establishment of the empire of the East, which, from the reign of Arcadius to the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, subsisted one thousand and fifty-eight years in a state of premature and perpetual decay.”

WorldYearsStatesHistorySonThousandMarkFinalsEightEastFiftyEmpiresDivisionEstablishmentPerpetualDecayReignRoman EmpirePrematureConstantinople
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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“It is beyond a doubt that during the sixteenth century, and the years immediately preceding and following it, poisoning had been brought to a pitch of perfection which remains unknown to modern chemistry, but which is indisputably proved by history. Italy, the cradle of modern science, was at that time, the inventor and mistress of these secrets, many of which are lost.”

YearsLostSecretHistoryDoubtModernCenturyPerfectionRemainsFollowingChemistryMistressInventorCradleModern SciencePoisoning
Author:Honore de Balzac
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“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.”

YearsMeanMatterFactsTogetherLawScienceNightValuesInterestHistoryKnowingStudyPossibilityPositionParticularPlanetsMassAccountsHistoricalProfoundSimplicityDetailsWorthyAstronomyMasteryEvery NightSplendourIntrinsic ValueGravitationHistorical Facts
Author:Bertrand Russell
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“When the world was half a thousand years younger all events had much sharper outlines than now. The distance between sadness and joy, between good and bad fortune, seemed to be much greater than for us; every experience had that degree of directness and absoluteness which joy and sadness still have in the mind of a child”

WorldYearsMindChildrenStillsJoyHalfHistoryGreaterSadnessEventsThousandDegreesDistanceFortuneThousand YearsGood And BadOutlinesBad FortuneJoy And Sadness
Author:Johan Huizinga
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“I desire no other inscription over my gravestone than: 'Here lies John Adams, who took upon himself the responsibility of peace with France in the year 1800'.”

YearsLyingDesireResponsibilityHistoryFranceGravestoneInscriptions
Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“n Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

LoveLifeYearsHumorFunnyPoliticsPeaceHistoryDemocracyProduceMurderTerrorClockWarfareRenaissanceThirty YearsBloodshedSwitzerlandLeonardoBrotherlyBrotherly LoveCuckoosVoting And DemocracyBooks And MoviesAlpsItalian RenaissanceCuckoo Clocks
Author:Orson Welles
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“A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.”

MenWorldLifeYearsWisdomMotivationalAgeViewsHistoryLearningExperienceTwentiesCleverThirtyBoxingFiftyBirthdayGenocideEncouragingBad AssThirty YearsTwenty OneWasted TimeFitness MotivationalHappy BirthdayFunny BirthdayGreat BoxingEfforts Wasted
Book:Muhammad Ali Unfiltered: Rare, Iconic, and Officially Authorized Photos of the Greatest
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“Western elites - the beneficiaries of 60 years of peace and prosperity achieved by the sacrifices to defeat fascism and Communism - are unhappy in their late middle age, and show little gratitude for, or any idea about, what gave them such latitude. If they cannot find perfection in history, they see no good at all.”

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Author:Victor Davis Hanson
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“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'”

IfsMenYearsStillsWarLastsHoursHistoryDutyBearsThousandBritishEmpiresHistorianWorld War IiWorld War IHeroismThousand YearsFinestGreat WarCommonwealthBritish EmpireBritish HistoryBracesWorld War 1Never Give InEnglish HistoryFinest HourPearl Harbor DayPower Of SpeechBattle Of Britain
Author:Winston Churchill
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“It is very remarkable that while the words Eternal, Eternity, Forever, are constantly in our mouths, and applied without hesitation, we yet experience considerable difficulty in contemplating any definite term which bears a very large proportion to the brief cycles of our petty chronicles. There are many minds that would not for an instant doubt the God of Nature to have existed from all Eternity, and would yet reject as preposterous the idea of going back a million of years in the History of His Works. Yet what is a million, or a million million, of solar revolutions to an Eternity?”

YearsMindIdeasScienceTermNatureHistoryMillionsForeverDoubtHard WorkRevolutionBearsEternalMouthsEternityDifficultyInstantProportionRemarkableRejectsCyclesContemplatingDefinitePettyHesitationChronicles
Author:George Julius Poulett Scrope
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“The six thousand years of human history form but a portion of the geologic day that is passing over us: they do not extend into the yesterday of the globe, far less touch the myriads of ages spread out beyond.”

YearsHumansAgeFormScienceHistoryThousandSixSpreadYesterdayPassingPassingsPortionsGlobesThousand YearsHuman HistoryGeology
Book:An Autobiography: My Schools and Schoolmasters; Or, The Story of My Education
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“Indeed, I suspect that the changes that have taken place during the last century in the average man's fundamental beliefs, in his philosophy, in his conception of religion, in his whole world outlook, are greater than the changes that occurred during the preceding four thousand years all put together.”

MenWorldYearsHumansPhilosophyWholeDreamTogetherLastsScienceBeliefHistoryTakenGreaterFourCenturyThousandConceptsAccountsFundamentalsAverageWhole WorldHuman LifeMy TimeSuspectsApplicationThousand YearsOutlookAverage Man
Author:Robert Andrews Millikan
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“Some years ago John Kenneth Galbraith wrote in an essay on his efforts at writing a history of economics: 'As one approaches the present, one is filled with a sense of hopelessness; in a year and possibly even a month, there is now more economic comment in the supposedly serious literature than survives from the whole of the thousand years commonly denominated as the Middle Ages ... anyone who claims to be familiar with it all is a confessing liar.' I believe that all physicists would subscribe to the same sentiments regarding their own professional literature. I do at any rate.”

WritingYearsBelieveWholeAgeScienceLiteratureI BelieveEffortHistoryEconomicMiddleSeriousMonthsThousandApproachYears AgoEconomicsClaimsFilledRateFamiliarLiarsSentimentsCommentThousand YearsHopelessnessEssaysPhysicistMiddle AgesConfessingKenneth
Author:Abraham Pais
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