Then, Sir, you would reduce all history to no better than an almanack, a mere chronological series of remarkable events. – James Boswell, 1775

The lessons of history? There are four: The bee fertilizes the flower it robs; whom the gods would destroy they first make mad with power; the mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small; when it is dark enough, you can see the stars. – Charles Austin Beard