"OUR history begins before we are born. We represent the hereditary influences of our race, and our ancestors virtually live in us."

History, Race

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"OUR history begins before we are born. We represent the hereditary influences of our race, and our ancestors virtually live in us."

Exlpore more History quotes

"Dr. Rex Curry, the professor and attorney from Florida, has debated and largely proven the unavoidable evidence that Hitler's National Socialism was significantly influenced by Bellamy's 'nationalistic' form of 'socialism.' Curry is famous for making the claim that Hitler adopted the 'stiff-arm salute' from Francis and Edward Bellamy."

A.E. Samaan, American Author

History, Ideology, Influence, Politics

"Every literary critic believes he will outwit history and have the last word."

Mason Cooley, American Writer

History, Literary, Will, Word

"Nationalism leads to all sorts of nasty things (even Nazi things) like fascism and war."

Christina Engela, South African Author

History, Nationalism, War, Fascism

"If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American Poet

History, Life, Enemies, Man

"I found myself thinking about President William McKinley, the third American president to be assassinated. He lived for several days after he was shot, and toward the end, his wife started crying and screaming, "I want to go, too! I want to go, too!" And with his last measure of strength, McKinley turned to her and spoke his last words: "We are all going."

John Green, American Author

History, Assassination, Death, Suffering

"They say that Caliph Omar, when consulted about what had to be done with the library of Alexandria, answered as follows: 'If the books of this library contain matters opposed to the Koran, they are bad and must be burned. If they contain only the doctrine of the Koran, burn them anyway, for they are superfluous.' Our learned men have cited this reasoning as the height of absurdity. However, suppose Gregory the Great was there instead of Omar and the Gospel instead of the Koran. The library would still have been burned, and that might well have been the finest moment in the life of this illustrious pontiff."

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss Philosopher

History, Knowledge, Books, Observation

"Mankind have a little corrupted nature, for they were not born wolves, and they have become wolves; God has given them neither cannon of four-and-twenty pounders, nor bayonets; and yet they have made cannon and bayonets to destroy one another."

Voltaire, French Writer

History, Corruption, Nature, Violence, Humanity

"According to Adam One, the Fall of Man was multidimensional. The ancestral primates fell out of the trees; then they fell from vegetarianism into meat-eating. Then they fell from instinct into reason, and thus into technology; from simple signals into complex grammar, and thus into humanity; from firelessness into fire, and thence into weaponry; and from seasonal mating into an incessant sexual twitching. Then they fell from a joyous life in the moment into the anxious contemplation of the vanished past and the distant future."

Margaret Atwood, Canadian Novelist

History, Evolution, Humanity, Instinct, Change

"When it is impossible to stretch the very elastic threads of historical ratiocination any farther, when actions are clearly contrary to all that humanity calls right or even just, the historians produce a saving conception of 'greatness.' 'Greatness,' it seems, excludes the standards of right and wrong. For the 'great' man nothing is wrong, there is no atrocity for which a 'great' man can be blamed."

Leo Tolstoy, Russian Novelist

History, Justice, Morality, Power

"Humans are intelligent and resourceful. If we've been around a million or more years, why are we so disinclined to believe that we could have built cities 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 or even more years ago?"

Christina Engela, South African Author

History, Civilization, Truth, Imagination

Explore more quotes by James Nasmyth

"Week by week my orders grew, and the flat of the old mill soon assumed a very busy aspect."

Old,

"Time passed by. I had furnished steam hammers to the principal foundries in England. I had sent them abroad, even to Russia. At length it became known to the Lords of the Admiralty that a new power in forging had been introduced."

Power, Time, England, Russia

"From a very early period of my life I have derived the highest enjoyment from listening to music, especially to melody, which is to me the most pleasing form of composition."

Life, Music, Enjoyment, Listening

"In course of time the Brothers Cowper removed the manufacture of their printing machines from London, to Manchester. There they found skilled and energetic workmen, ready to carry their plans into effect."

Time, Brothers, Effect, London

"My father was always anxious to give pleasure to his children. Accordingly, he took me one day, as a special treat, to the top of the grand old tower, to see the chimes played."

Family, Father, Children, Day, Old

"Everything connected with war and warlike exploits is interesting to a boy."

War,

"But my most favourite pursuit, after my daily exertions at the Foundry, was Astronomy. There were frequently clear nights when the glorious objects in the Heavens were seen in most attractive beauty and brilliancy."

Beauty, Astronomy, Pursuit

"In order to keep pace with the influx of work I had to take on fresh hands."

Work, Order

"OUR history begins before we are born. We represent the hereditary influences of our race, and our ancestors virtually live in us."

History, Race