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Quotes by Historian
"Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom."
6
"To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization."
6
"With the Truman book, I wrote the entire account of his experiences in World War I before going over to Europe to follow his tracks in the war. When I got there, there was a certain satisfaction in finding I had it right - it does look like that."
6
"It is my contention that civil disobediences are nothing but the latest form of voluntary association, and that they are thus quite in tune with the oldest traditions of the country."
6
"To people who remember JFK's assassination, JFK Jr. will probably always be that boy saluting his father's coffin."
6
"Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, 'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it."
6
"To have a liberal temperament is a kind of psychological boon, To be able to understand that someone you disagree with is not just a terrible creature but somebody with whom you disagree."
6
"The New England conscience does not stop you from doing what you shouldn't-it just stops you from enjoying it."
6
"Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things: first, an ideal, with takes the imagination by storm, and second, a definite intelligible plan for carrying that ideal into practice."
6
"I would I could stand on a busy corner, hat in hand, and beg people to throw me all their wasted hours."
5
"Action without a name, a who attached to it, is meaningless."
5
"Discount air fares, a car in every parking space and the interstate highway system have made every place accessible - and every place alike."
5
"The chief qualification of a mass leader has become unending infallibility; he can never admit an error."
5
"To like and dislike the same things, this is what makes a solid friendship."
5
"So if 1960 had occurred under the old convention system, Kennedy would have had a very hard time getting the Democratic nomination because he would have been rejected by all those people who had worked with him in Washington."
5
"They still have some money, and they have needs to supply. They must begin immediately to pool their earnings and organize industries to participate in supplying social and economic demands."
5
"If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves."
5
"The equation of religion with belief is rather recent."
5
"All science is experiential; but all experience must be related back to and derives its its validity from the conditions and context of consciousness in which it arises, i.e., the totality of our nature."
5
"Soldiers, when committed to a task, can't compromise. It's unrelenting devotion to the standards of duty and courage, absolute loyalty to others, not letting the task go until it's been done."
5
"The new always happens against the overwhelming odds of statistical laws and their probability, which for all practical, everyday purposes amounts to certainty; the new therefore always appears in the guise of a miracle."
5
"Utopianism is probably a necessary social device for generating the superhuman efforts without which no major revolution is achieved."
5
"To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse."
5
"From the beginning of the presidential nominating conventions in the 1830's really through the 1950's, you had conventions that actually did real business."
5
"A city that outdistances man's walking powers is a trap for man."
5
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