For what is history, but… huge libel on human nature, to which we industriously add page after page, volume after volume, as if we were holding up a monument to the honor, rather than the infamy of our species. – Washington Irving, History of New York

The point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward toward unity and widely shared prosperity – or it will move apart. – Franklin D. Roosevelt

The game of history is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of the majority in the middle. – Eric Hoffer, The True Believer