Bored of all that 'history repeats itself' shebang? Looking for some new ideas to impress your friends when talking about historical events, of which we seem to have more than enough these days? Well then, you've come to the exact right place at the exact right moment, for this is our selection of the best history quotes ever!
Now, most of these are famous people's quotes, but who said that it isn't cool to read what people who made history had to say about it? Others are just plain famous quotes - ones whose author might be a bit more obscure, but their words nevertheless made enough of an impact to stick around with us for literally ages to be met in school books and on coffee mugs. Of course, these quotes about history will also have some new info to share with you, although it is funny when you think that we ourselves are living in history, yet there's always something new about it. Well, anyhoo, you’d better check out these history quotes for yourself before we hammer some assumptions into you.
So, scroll on down below and check the undeniably powerful quotes out! Once you've skimmed through all of them, give the best quotes your vote, and share this inspiring but also slightly intimidating article with your friends!
#41
“History is an aggregate of half-truths, semi-truths, fables, myths, rumours, prejudices, personal narratives, gossip and official prevarications. It is a canvas upon which thousands of artists throughout the ages have splashed their conceptions and interpretations of a day and an era.” - Philip D. Jordan
unknown
Report10points
#42
“History is an argument without end.” - Pieter Geyl
unknown
Report10points
#43
“Horror is the natural reaction to the last 5,000 years of history.” ― Robert Anton Wilson
unknown
Report10points
#44
“When history fails to shed light on the truth, myth creates its own.” ― Samantha Shannon
unknown
Report10points
#45
“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.“ ― Marcus Garvey
unknown
Report10points
#46
“The lovers of romance can go elsewhere for satisfaction but where can the lovers of truth turn if not to history?” – Katharine Anthony
unknown
Report10points
#47
“You don’t change the course of history by turning the faces of portraits to the wall.” – Jawaharlal Nehru
unknown
Report10points
#48
“History is as light as individual human life, unbearably light, light as a feather, as dust swirling into the air, as whatever will no longer exist tomorrow.” ― Milan Kundera
unknown
Report10points
#49
“History is information. Memory is part of your identity.” — David Miliband
unknown
Report10points
#50
"The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like." - E. L. Doctorow
unknown
Report10points
#51
"We must admit that history is enjoyable to a large extent because it enables us to pass judgement on the past." - Douglas Hurd
unknown
Report10points
#52
“A history professor once told me that there are two ways we learn: you can put your hand on the hot stove, or you can hear tales of people who already did that and how it turned out for them.” ― Dan Carlin
10points
#53
“History is a jangle of accidents, blunders, surprises and absurdities, and so is our knowledge of it, but if we are to report it at all we must impose some order upon it.” - Henry Steele Commager
unknown
Report9points
#54
“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” - George Santayana
unknown
Report9points
#55
“If you don’t know history, it’s as if you were born yesterday. If you were born yesterday then any leader can tell you anything.” - Howard Zinn
unknown
Report9points
#56
“Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.” - Winston Churchill
unknown
Report9points
#57
“History is instructive. What it suggests to people is that even if they do little things, if they walk on the picket line, if they join a vigil, if they write a letter to their local newspaper… Anything they do, however small, becomes part of a much larger sort of flow of energy. And when enough people do enough things, however small they are, then change takes place.” - Howard Zinn
unknown
Report9points
#58
“Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.” ― Zadie Smith
unknown
Report9points
#59
“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” ― L.P. Hartley
unknown
Report9points
#60
“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” ― Rudyard Kipling
unknown
Report9points