History

Some write a narrative of wars and
feats, Of heroes little known, and
call the rant A history.

William Cowper

Men have need of history because,
without it, the past threatens to
overwhelm them.

Guy Fregault

Isn't it amazing the way the future
succeeds in creating an appropriate
past?

John Leonard

History is never above the melee.
It is not allowed to be neutral,
but forced to enlist in every army.

Allan Nevins

History, like a vast river, propels
logs, vegetation, rafts, and
debris; it is full of live and dead
things, some destined for
resurrection; it mingles many
waters and holds in solution
invisible substances stolen from
distant soils.

Jacques Barzun

History is the action and reaction
of these two, nature and thought -
two boys pushing each other on the
curbstone of the pavement.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

All that the historians give us are
little oases in the desert of time,
and we linger fondly in these,
forgetting the vast tracks between
one and another that were trodden
by the weary generations of men.

John Alfred Spender

A boy who hears a lesson in history
ended by the beauty of peace, and
how Napoleon brought ruin upon the
world and that he should be forever
cursed, will not long have much
confidence in his teacher. He
wants to hear more about the
fighting and less about the peace
negotiations.

William Lee Howard

History is a melodrama on the theme
of parasitism, characterized by
scenes that are exciting or dull,
as the case may be, and many a
sudden stagetrick.

Max Nordau

History is but the record of the
public and official acts of human
beings. It is our object,
therefore, to humanize our history
and deal with people past and
present; people who ate and
possibly drank; people who were
born, flourished and died; not
grave tragedians, posing
perpetually for their photographs.

Bill Nye