Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done. – Louis D. Brandeis

Our historic imagination is at best slightly developed. We generalise and idealise the past egregiously. We set up little toys to stand as symbols for centuries and the complicated lives of countless individuals. – John Dewey, Characters and Events

For me there is no greater subject than history. How a man can study it and not be forced to become a philosopher, I cannot tell. – George E. Wilson