We forget that we ourselves are a part of history, that we are the product of growth and are condemned to perish if we lose the capacity for further growth and change. We are ourselves history and share the responsibility for world history and our position in it. But we gravely lack awareness of this responsibility. —Herman Hesse More about this quote Tags: awareness history change death responsibility growth Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
You cannot help but learn more as you take the world into your hands. Take it up reverently, for it is an old piece of clay, with millions of thumbprints on it. —John Updike More about this quote Tags: learning world reverence Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
Sir Francis Drake circumcized the world with a hundred-foot clipper. —Unknown history student More about this quote Tags: humor misunderstanding Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
History, real solemn history, I cannot be interested in. . . . I read it a little as a duty; but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars and pestilences in every page; the men all so good-for-nothing, and hardly any women at all. —Jane Austen More about this quote Tags: war history power women men kings pestilence Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
If you want a symbolic gesture, don't burn the flag; wash it. —Norman Thomas More about this quote Tags: politics USA cleaning flags symbolism flag burning Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
There is . . . a trait no other nation seems to possess in quite the same degree that we do — namely, a feeling of almost childish injury and resentment unless the world as a whole recognizes how innocent we are of anything but the most generous and harmless intentions. —Eleanor Roosevelt More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
Very little is known about the War of 1812 because the Americans lost it. —Eric Nicol More about this quote Tags: war history memory USA Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know, that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they actually change their minds, and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. —Carl Sagan More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters. —African proverb More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing things men have always done. If a war story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. —Tim O'Brien More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
I have noticed that as soon as you have soldiers, the story is called history. Before their arrival, it is called myth, folktale, legend, fairy tale, oral poetry, ethnography. After the soldiers arrive, it is called history. —Judy Grahn More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
There is no history of mankind; there is only an indefinite number of histories of all kinds of aspects of human life. And one of these is the history of political power. This is elevated into the history of the world. But . . . the history of power politics is nothing but the history of international crime and mass murder. . . . This history is taught in schools, and some of the greatest criminals are extolled as its heroes. —Karl Popper More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
Where are we really going? Always home! —Novalis More about this quote Tags: home travel destination Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. —Edward Abbey More about this quote Tags: hatred anger mountains Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us. Oh, be swift to love, make haste to be kind! —Henri Frederic Amiel More about this quote Tags: life kindness time Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email