Historical Quotes - Page 12

• Boredom and fatigue are great historical forces.

  Jacques Barzun

  Boredom, Force, Fatigue

  "The age of entropy" by Stephen Moss, www.theguardian.com. March 2, 2001.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is important to realize that whatever we do or design has iconographic references, it comes from somewhere; any form is always metaphorical, never totally metaphysical; it is never a 'destiny' but always a fact with some kind of historical reference. To put an object on a base means to monumentalize it, to make everyone aware it exists.

  Ettore Sottsass

  Mean, Destiny, Design

  Barbara Radice, Ettore Sottsass (1993). “Ettore Sottsass: A Critical Biography”, Rizzoli International Publications

  60 Copy quote

  Show source

• No military timetable should compel war when a successful outcome, namely a disarmed Iraq may be feasible without war, for example by allowing more time to the UN inspectors.

  Douglas Hurd

  Military, War, Successful

  6 Copy quote

• The entire Islamic world condemned Iran. Nowadays, because of the unwarranted invasion of Iraq by Bush and Blair, which was a completely unjust adventure based on misleading statements, and the lack of any effort to resolve the Palestinian issue, there is massive Islamic condemnation of the United States.

  Jimmy Carter

  War, Islamic, Adventure

  "Mr President for good" by Oliver Burkeman, www.theguardian.com. October 25, 2004.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Bombing is not especially inhumane. War itself is inhumane and the bombing plane, which is used to paralyse industry and transport, is a relatively civilised weapon. 'Normal' or 'legitimate' warfare is just as destructive of inanimate objects and enormously so of human lives.

  George Orwell

  War, Inanimate Objects, Weapons

  George Orwell (2016). “Fifty Essays (George Orwell) (Literary Thoughts Edition)”, p.502, epubli

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• NATO needs to adapt its strategy to meet new challenges

  Angela Merkel

  War, Challenges, Needs

  4 Copy quote

• I am an optimist and I believe that together we shall be able now to make the right historical choice so as not to miss the great chance at the turn of centuries and millenia and make the current extremely difficult transition to a peaceful world order.

  Mikhail Gorbachev

  Change, Believe, Order

  Nobel Lecture, www.nobelprize.org. June 05, 1991.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• But we cannot just take this historical fact for granted. We must make it live.

  Wendell Willkie

  Facts, Granted, Historical Facts

  7 Copy quote

• No matter what happens, nothing can prevent the historical process by which society demands freedom and democracy.

  Ai Weiwei

  Democracy, Demand, Matter

  "Where is Ai Weiwei?" by Adrian Searle, www.theguardian.com. May 9, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is our misfortune, as a historical generation, to live through the largest expansion in expressive capability in human history, a misfortune because abundance breaks more things than scarcity.

  Clay Shirky

  Expansion, Generations, Scarcity

  4 Copy quote

• I expressed skepticism, in the first chapter, about the utility of time machines in historical research. I especially advised against graduate students relying on them, because of the limited perspective you tend to get from being plunked down in some particular part of the past, and the danger of not getting back in time for your orals.

  John Lewis Gaddis

  Past, Perspective, Machines

  John Lewis Gaddis (2004). “The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past”, p.22, Oxford University Press, USA

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• As factual and thoughtful literature began to seep in, against the Nazis' will, and replace the reams of Nazi propaganda, I began to see the German Jew in his historical role, in his good as well as his bad light.

  Martha Dodd

  Thoughtful, Light, Roles

  Martha Dodd (1939). “Through embassy eyes”, New York

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• I enjoyed studying costume, learning about the corsetry and the historical context of fashion. I never had any real intention of being a costume designer.

  Georgina Chapman

  Fashion, Real, Costumes

  "Georgina Chapman Interview: Red-Carpet Royalty" by Derek Blasberg, www.harpersbazaar.com. March 21, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Considering that virtually none of the standard fare surrounding Thanksgiving contains an ounce of authenticity, historical accuracy, or cross-cultural perception, why is it so apparently ingrained? Is it necessary to the American psyche to perpetually exploit and debase its victims in order to justify its history?

  Michael Dorris

  Order, Perception, Authenticity

  8 Copy quote

• Seduction is an absolute pleasure to read -- clever, suspenseful, exciting, mysterious, learned, and engrossing. Some of the best historical fiction I've read in quite some time and just plain reading fun. M.J. Rose is at the top of her game, and that is saying something.

  David Liss

  Clever, Fun, Reading

  4 Copy quote

• There are many similarities between Germans and blacks. The nouns themselves are loaded with so much historical baggage it's impossible for anyone to be indifferent to the simple mention of either group. We're two insightful people looking for reasons to love ourselves; and let's not forget we both love pork and wear sandals with socks.

  Paul Beatty

  Love, Simple, Two

  Paul Beatty (2008). “Slumberland: A Novel”, Bloomsbury USA

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• McIntosh is persuasive in his arguments that the scientific facts of evolution cannot stand alone ... science shows that historical evolution, whatever its contingencies, is itself on a trajectory of values development. McIntosh has well-researched his sources and integrated them with seminal insight.

  Holmes Rolston III

  Development, Facts, Evolution

  7 Copy quote

• Herschel Grynszpan's life was enigmatic, elusive and tragic. The traces he left on the historical record are just sufficient to tantalize and baffle historians. Harlan Greene has woven from these threads a riveting novel, erotic, haunting, and profoundly moving.

  Janette Turner Hospital

  Moving, Erotic, Woven

  4 Copy quote

• Historical knowledge is indispensable for those who want to build a better world

  Ludwig von Mises

  Historical Knowledge, World, Want

  Ludwig Von Mises (1985). “Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War”, Libertarian Press

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• One of my great passions is the collection of historical trivia.

  Lynn Abbey

  Passion, Literature, Trivia

  7 Copy quote

• I am not someone who believes I am going to find a historical scoop.

  Antony Beevor

  Believe

  4 Copy quote

• If we could view Muhammad as we do any other important historical figure we would surely consider him to be one of the greatest geniuses the world has known.

  Karen Armstrong

  Views, Important, Genius

  7 Copy quote

• Natalie Bakopoulos has that rare gift, the ability to imagine a traumatic historical event in the form of individual lives and ordinary details. The Green Shore is compelling, personal, and full of quietly real moments.

  Elizabeth Kostova

  Real, Events, Ordinary

  4 Copy quote

• How does a country deal with the fact that some of its most revered historical figures had certain moral values and political views virtually identical to Nazis?

  Robert Jensen

  Country, Views, Political

  7 Copy quote

• Well, yes. I believe that children's souls are the inheritors of historical memory from previous generations. It's just that as they grow older and experience the everyday world that memory sinks lower and lower. I feel I need to make a film that reaches down to that level. If I could do that I would die happy.

  Hayao Miyazaki

  Children, Memories, Believe

  "A god among animators" by Xan Brooks, www.theguardian.com. September 14, 2005.

  9 Copy quote

  Show source