History is on every occasion the record of that which one age finds worthy of note in another. Jakob Burckhardt
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. Winston Churchill.
History repeats itself; that’s one of the things that’s wrong with history. Clarence Darrow
That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach. Aldous Huxley
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H G Wells
History does not teach fatalism. There are moments when the will of a handful of free men breaks through determinism and opens up new roads. People get the history they deserve. Charles de Gaulle
History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided. Konrad Adenauer
In history the way of annihilation is invariably prepared by inward degeneration, by decrease of life. Only then can a shock from outside put an end to the whole. Jakob Burckhardt
The historian’s first duties are sacrilege and the mocking of false gods. They are his indispensable instruments for establishing the truth. Jules Michelet
The men who make history have no time to write about it. Prince Klemens von Metternich
Anyone who believes you can’t change history has never tried to write his memoirs. David Ben Gurion
Blood alone moves the wheels of history. Benito Mussolini
Not only the studying and writing of history but also the honoring of it both represent affirmations of a certain defiant faith – a desperate, unreasoning faith, if you will-but faith nevertheless in the endurance of this threatened world-faith in the total essentiality of historical continuity. George F. Kennan
History is the discovering of the constant and universal principles of human nature. David Hume
History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other. Philip Guedalla
History is still in large measure poetry to me. Jakob Burckhardt
History is the present. That’s why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth. E L Doctorow
This above all makes history useful and desirable: it unfolds before our eyes a glorious record of exemplary actions. Livy
He was what I often think is a dangerous thing for a statesman to be – a student of history; and like most of those who study history, he learned from the mistakes of the past how to make new ones. A J P Taylor
History is not another name for the past, as many people imply. It is the name for stories about the past. A J P Taylor
Human blunders usually do more to shape history than human wickedness. A J P Taylor
History is not a catalogue but…a convincing version of events. A J P Taylor
History is the great propagator of doubt. A J P Taylor
People think too historically. They are always living half in a cemetery. Aristide Briand
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. Karl Marx
History is a romance that is believed; romance, a history that is not believed. Horace Walpole
Historians are like deaf people who go on answering questions that no one has asked them. Leo Tolstoy
History is a cyclic poem written by time upon the memories of man. Percy Bysshe Shelley
History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, however, if faced with courage, need not be lived again. Maya Angelou
The case against the notion of historical objectivity is like the case against international law, or international morality; that it does not exist. Isaiah Berlin