Legend: A lie that has attained the dignity of age. – H.L. Mencken
God cannot alter the past, though historians can. – Samuel Butler, “Prose Observations”
History is the sum total of the things that could have been avoided. – Konrad Adenauer
Then, Sir, you would reduce all history to no better than an almanack, a mere chronological series of remarkable events. – James Boswell, 1775
The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice. – Mark Twain, Following the Equator
Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. – Plato, Ion
History is a vast early warning system. – Norman Cousins
Historian: an unsuccessful novelist. – H.L. Mencken
History is a great dust heap. – Thomas Carlyle, Obiter Dicta
Most history is guessing, and the rest is prejudice. – Will and Ariel Durant, Our Oriental Heritage
A lot of history is just dirty politics cleaned up for the consumption of children and other innocents. – Richard Reeves
History is past politics, and politics present history. – John Robert Seeley, The Growth of British Policy
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, The Use of History
Each time history repeats itself, the price goes up. – Author Unknown
History is full of the dead weight of things which have escaped the control of the mind, yet drive man on with a blind force. – Frederick Maurice Powicke, History, Freedom & Religion
Political history is far too criminal and pathological to be a fit subject of study for the young. Children should acquire their heroes and villains from fiction. – W.H. Auden, A Certain World
If an historian were to relate truthfully all the crimes, weaknesses and disorders of mankind, his readers would take his work for satire rather than for history. – Pierre Bayle, Historical and Critical Dictionary
Too many historical writers are the votaries of cults, which, by definition are dedicated to whitewashing warts and hanging halos. – Thomas A. Bailey
A historian is often only a journalist facing backwards. – Karl Kraus, translated from German by Harry Zohn
If you think you have it tough, read history books. – Bill Maher
