History Quotes

History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided. (Konrad Adenauer, 1876-1967)

History, n. an account, mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are bought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools. (Ambrose Bierce, 1842-1914)

Biography is the only true history. (James Carlyle, 1795-1881)

History is the witness of the times, the torch of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the messenger of antiquity. (Cicero, 106-43 b.c.)

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. (Abba Eban, 1915-)

All history, so far as it is not supported by contemporary evidence, is romance. (Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784)

History repeats itself. (Thucydides, 471-400 b.c.)

The one duty we have to history is to rewrite it. (Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900)

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