If a secret history of books could be written, and the author's private thoughts and meanings noted down alongside of his story, how many insipid volumes would become interesting, and dull tales excite the reader! William Makepeace Thackeray
Human history in essence is the history of ideas. H. G. Wells
History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul. Lord Acton
Numerous politicians have seized absolute power and muzzled the press. Never in history has the press seized absolute power and muzzled the politicians. David Brinkley
I don't think that a leader can control, to any great extent, his destiny. Very seldom can he step in and change the situation if the forces of history are running in another direction. Richard M. Nixon
The history of saints is mainly the history of insane people. Benito Mussolini
We live in an era with no historical precedents. History is no longer useful as a tool in helping us understand current changes. Doug Coupland
It is capitalist America that produced the modern independent woman. Never in history have women had more freedom of choice in regard to dress, behavior, career, and sexual orientation. Camille Paglia
Every library should try to be complete on something, if it were only the history of pinheads. Oliver Wendell Holmes
In its history, Europe has committed so many massacres and horrors that it should bow its own head in shame. Desmond Tutu
All history is incomprehensible without Christ. Ernest Renan
If you think Abraham Lincoln became famous for inventing the town car, it is time to spend a few hours on history. Bo Bennett
Value people on their potential, not on their history. Bo Bennett
History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology. W. H. Auden
The history of the last century shows, as we shall see later, that the advice given to governments by bankers, like the advice they gave to industrialists, was consistently good for bankers, but was often disastrous for governments, businessmen, and the people generally. Carroll Quigley
'WASP' is the only ethnic term that is in fact a term of class, apart from redneck, which is another word for the same group but who are in the lower social strata, so it's inexplicably tied up with social standing and culture and history in a way that the other hyphenations just are not. Christopher Hitchens
Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times. Gustave Flaubert
The principle that human nature, in its psychological aspects, is nothing more than a product of history and given social relations removes all barriers to coercion and manipulation by the powerful. Noam Chomsky
Now, when I hear that Christians are getting together in order to defend the people of Israel, of course it brings joy to my heart. And it simply says, look, people have learned from history. Elie Wiesel
Their memory's like a train: you can see it getting smaller as it pulls away And the things you can't remember Tell the things you can't forget that History puts a saint in every dream. Tom Waits