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Quotes by Historian
"Confidence is providence."
26
"Society's revenge matched its fright."
26
"Death like style is the removal of rubbish."
26
"Never speak about private affairs for the general public to hear."
26
"A man is as old as his arteries and as young as his ideas."
26
"Guerrilla war is a kind of war waged by the few but dependent on the support of many."
26
"Say what you have to say in the fewest possible words."
25
"Religious discrimination is not like racial discrimination. One you choose for yourself, the other God chose for you."
25
"The fleet sailed to its war base in the North Sea, headed not so much for some rendezvous with glory as for rendezvous with discretion."
25
"Love taught me to die with dignity that I might come forth anew in splendor. Born once of flesh, then again of fire, I was reborn a third time to the sound of my name humming haikus in heaven's mouth."
25
"All comparisons between America's current place in the world and anything legitimately called an empire in the past reveal ignorance and confusion about any reasonable meaning of the concept empire, especially the comparison with the Roman Empire."
25
"The members of such a society consider that the transgression of a religious ordinance should be punished by civil penalties, and that the violation of a civil duty exposes the delinquent to divine correction."
25
"A manufacturing district... sends out, as it were, suckers into all its neighbourhood."
25
"Patience can be bitter but her fruit is always sweet."
24
"When a reader enters the pages of a book of poetry, he or she enters a world where dreams transform the past into knowledge made applicable to the present, and where visions shape the present into extraordinary possibilities for the future."
24
"The reality of a serious writer is a reality of many voices, some of them belonging to the writer, some of them belonging to the world of readers at large."
24
"No more distressing moment can ever face a British government than that which requires it to come to a hard, fast and specific decision."
24
"There is nothing sane, merciful, heroic, devout, redemptive, wise, holy, loving, peaceful, joyous, righteous, gracious, remotely spiritual, or worthy of praise where mass murder is concerned. We have been in this world long enough to know that by now and to understand that nonviolent conflict resolution informed by mutual compassion is the far better option."
24
"The word 'survivor' carries a weight of remembrance that has broken the minds and bodies of more than a few men and women. It also contains a humbling light of recognition that compels many to do whatever they can to help reinforce the efforts of those who might be 'at risk' of not just giving up on their dreams, but of giving up on their continued existence."
24
"No people do so much harm as those who go about doing good."
24
"And again, though we cannot prove, we feel, that we are deathless. We perceive that life is not like those dramas so beloved by the people-in which every villain is punished, and every act of virtue meets with its reward; we learn anew every day that the wisdom of the serpent fares better here than the gentleness of the dove, and that any thief can triumph if he steals enough. If mere worldly utility and expediency were the justification of virtue, it would not be wise to be too good. And yet, knowing all this, having it flung into our faces with brutal repetition, we still feel the command to righteousness, we know that we ought to do the inexpedient good."
24
"The more you overthink the less you will understand."
24
"The past is not dead. Indeed, it is often not even past."
24
"Imagination is not something apart and hermetic, not a way of leaving reality behind; it is a way of engaging reality."
24
"Unlike Christianity, which preached a peace that it never achieved, Islam unashamedly came with a sword."
24
"The epoch of Customary Law, and of its custody by a privileged order, is a very remarkable one."
24
"The difference between greed and ambition is a greedy person desires things he isn't prepared to work for."
23
"Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive."
23
"Indeed, one hears, in early Christian theology, as many echoes of Persian dualism as of Hebrew Puritanism or Greek philosophy."
23
"Lazy people live lonely lives."
23
"To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse."
23
"Dead battles, like dead generals, hold the military mind in their dead grip."
23
"Most of us spend too much time on the last twenty-four hours and too little on the last six thousand years."
23
"Never lose sleep over someone who is not worth staying awake for."
23
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