Quotes by History Once upon a time, a historian told me that the most important choice a new historian could make was of his or her specialist subject. Most of the good stuff was far too overcrowded, so you had to pick about in the exotic and extinct. His recommendations were the Picts or the Minoans, because hardly anything was known about them and you could spend a happy lifetime of speculation. A. A. Gill history important-choices happy-life It's a great historical joke that when the Spanish met the Aztecs, it was a blind date made in serve-you-right heaven. At the time, they were the two most unpleasant cultures in the entire world, and richly deserved each other. Still, the story of how stout Cortes blustered, bullied and bludgeoned his way to collapsing an entire empire with a handful of contagious hoodlums is astonishing. A. A. Gill heaven two history If the English language had been properly organized ... then there would be a word which meant both 'he' and 'she', and I could write, 'If John or Mary comes heesh will want to play tennis', which would save a lot of trouble. A. A. Milne play writing history I know that history is simultaneously a bloody mess and a collection of feats so inspiring and amazing they make you proud to share the same DNA structure with the rest of humanity. I know you'd better focus on the good stuff or you're screwed. A. J. Jacobs focus dna history If there had been a strong democratic sentiment in Germany, Hitler would never have come to power . [Germans] deserved what they got when they went round crying for a hero. A. J. P. Taylor strong hero history History is not a catalogue but...a convincing version of events. A. J. P. Taylor convincing events history Human blunders usually do more to shape history than human wickedness. A. J. P. Taylor witty war history Freedom does not always win. This is one of the bitterest lessons of history. A. J. P. Taylor winning doe history All other forms of history - economic history, social history, psychological history, above all sociology - seem to me history with the history left out. A. J. P. Taylor sociology psychological history The male clerk with his quill pen and copper-plate handwriting had gone for good. The female short-hand typist took his place. It was a decisive moment in women's emancipation. A. J. P. Taylor clerks history hands Rather an end in horror, than horror without end. He could not condemn principles he might need to invoke and apply later. The wolf cannot help having been created by God as he is, but we shoot him all the same if we have to. The great player in diplomacy, as in chess, asks the question,Does this improve me?, not look at the possible fringe benefits If you can't have what you like, you must like what you have. A. J. P. Taylor principles player history History is the great propagator of doubt. A. J. P. Taylor doubt history Bound as our lives are to the tyranny of time, it is through what we know of history that we are delivered from our bonds and escape - into time. A. L. Rowse tyranny knows history History is a great deal closer to poetry than is generally realised: in truth, I think, it is in essence the same. A. L. Rowse essence history thinking It is hard to think of anything which more tragically and clearly exemplifies the phenomenon of good political intentions achieving the precise opposite of their aim. A. N. Wilson opposites history thinking We, while noting many things amiss about Victorian society, more often sense them judging us. A. N. Wilson british-history judging history History does not eliminate grievances. It lays them down like landmines. A. N. Wilson grievance doe history Pearl Harbor is strenuously respectful of contemporary sensitivities, sometimes at the cost of accuracy. A. O. Scott pearls cost history Novels arise out of the shortcomings of History. A. S. Byatt arise novel history The past actually happened. History is what someone took the time to write down. A. Whitney Brown writing history past 1234567891011»
