It is striking how history, when resting on the memory of men, always touches the bounds of mythology. – Leopold von Ranke, History of the Popes

Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes. – Voltaire

Jews have a special relationship to books, and the Haggadah has been translated more widely, and reprinted more often, than any other Jewish book. It is not a work of history or philosophy, not a prayer book, users manual, timeline, poem or palimpsest – and yet it is all these things. – Jonathan Safran Foer

Its very attractive to people to be a victim. Instead of having to think out the whole situation, about history and your group and what you are doing… if you begin from the point of view of being a victim, youve got it half-made. I mean intellectually. – V. S. Naipaul