Historian Quotes - Page 27

• I do not like the late resurrection of the Jesuits. . . . If ever any congregation of men could merit eternal perdition on earth, and in hell, according to these historians, though, like Pascal, true Catholics, it is this company of Loyolas.

  John Adams

  Men, Catholic, Earth

  John Adams (1856). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations”, p.219

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• As the primary end of History is to record truth, impartiality, fidelity and accuracy are the fundamental qualities of an Historian.

  Hugh Blair

  History, Quality, Fundamentals

  Hugh Blair (1858). “Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres: Chiefly from the Lectures of Dr. Blair”, p.263

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• A historian has many duties... the first is not to slander; the second is not to bore

  Voltaire

  Firsts, Duty, Slander

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• Historians are gossips who tease the dead

  Voltaire

  History, Gossip, Tease

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• The librarians know the secrets, not the historians

  Dee Brown

  Book, Secret, Library

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• Alas! In vain historians pry and probe: The same wind blows, and in the same live robe Truth bends her head to fingers curved cupwise; And with a woman's smile and a child's care Examines something she is holding there Concealed by her own shoulder from our eyes.

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Children, Truth, Eye

  Vladimir Nabokov, Michael Scammell (1963). “The gift”

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• Why do I feel so exercised about what we think of the people of the Middle Ages? ... I guess it's because so many of their voices are ringing vibrantly in my ears - Chaucer's, Boccaccio's, Henry Knighton's, Thomas Walsingham's. Froissart's, Jean Creton's... writers and contemporary historians of the period who seem to me just as individual, just as alive as we are today. We need to get to know these folk better in order to know who we are ourselves.

  Terry Jones

  Thinking, Order, Voice

  "The Middle Ages of reason" by Terry Jones, www.theguardian.com. February 8, 2004.

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• If anti-Semitism is a variety of racism, it is a most peculiar variety, with many unique characteristics. In my view as a historian, it is so peculiar that it deserves to be placed in a quite different category. I would call it an intellectual disease, a disease of the mind, extremely infectious and massively destructive.

  Paul Johnson

  Unique, Views, Racism

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• In 325 A.D., the Roman Emperor Constantine decided to unify Rome under a single religion ... Historians still marvel at the brilliance with which Constantine converted the sun-worshipping pagans to Christianity. By fusing pagan symbols, dates, and rituals into the growing Christian tradition, he created a kind of hybrid religion that was acceptable to both parties.

  Dan Brown

  Christian, Party, Rome

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• We're historians and above all want to write about what was. Our book doesn't deal with legacies. It also wasn't our goal to destroy a legend. We consider Walesa to be a national symbol. He led Solidarity and remains an icon. But he also worked with the secret police under the name Bolek. The truth isn't always simply black and white.

  Slawomir Cenckiewicz

  Book, Writing, Black And White

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• I never intended to be a historian of religion. My aim was to become a professor of English Literature in a university, but I had a series of absolute career disasters and found myself making television programs about the nature of religion and about Christian history and started to discover about other religious traditions, and that was an absolute eye-opener for me.

  Karen Armstrong

  Christian, Religious, Eye

  Interview with Austin Allen, bigthink.com. November 16, 2009.

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• I cannot see the war as historians see it. Those clever fellows study all the facts and they see the war as a large thing, one of the biggest events in the legend of the man, something general, involving multitudes.

  William Saroyan

  Clever, War, Men

  William Saroyan (1936). “Inhale & exhale”, Books for Libraries

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• Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than ever before. Herodotus, historian If I had to name a driving force in my life, I'd name passion every time.

  Anita Roddick

  Giving Up, Passion, Men

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• If historians are not skeptical, they are nothing.

  Geoffrey Elton

  Skeptical, Ifs

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• It has been said that the historian is the avenger, and that standing as a judge between the parties and rivalries and causes of bygone generations he can lift up the fallen and beat down the proud, and by his exposures and his verdicts, his satire and his moral indignation, can punish unrighteousness, avenge the injured or reward the innocent.

  Herbert Butterfield

  Party, Judging, Rewards

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• Historians will not fail to note that a people who could spend $300 billion on defense refused to spend a tiny fraction of that total to keep their libraries open in the evening.

  Daniel J. Boorstin

  People, Library, Tiny

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• When I was released by the Americans I read historian Trevor Roper's book, 'The Last Days of Hitler'. Throughout the book like a red line, runs an eyewitness report by Hanna Reitsch about the final days in the bunker. I never said it. I never wrote it. I never signed it. It was something they invented. Hitler died with total dignity.

  Hanna Reitsch

  Running, Book, Finals

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• What the art historians had forgotten is that in Chinese, Japanese, Persian, and Indian art, they never painted shadows. Why did they paint shadows in European art? Shadows are because of optics. Optics need shadows and strong light. Strong light makes the deepest shadows. It took me a few years to realize fully that the art historians didn't grasp that. There are a lot of interesting new things, ideas, pictures.

  David Hockney

  Art, Strong, Light

  Interview with Michael Govan, www.interviewmagazine.com. November 5, 2013.

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• Most historians accept that Egypt was a cradle of civilization, and that many cultural idioms and traditions come from there. What has yet to be understood, however, is the manner in which Egypt inherited its cultural elements from the lands of the North-West. This fact is not known today because of the threat it poses to Rome and London, the Vatican and Crown, and to all those who have profited from the suppression of knowledge.

  Michael Tsarion

  Egypt, Rome, Land

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• I only became a novelist because I thought I had missed my chance to become a historian.

  Hilary Mantel

  Novelists, Chance

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• Virtually every subject is most effectively learned directly from the greatest thinkers, historians, artists, philosophers, scientists, prophets and their original works. Great works inspire greatness. Mediocre or poor works inspire mediocre or poor learning. The great accomplishments of humanity are the key to quality education.

  Oliver DeMille

  Artist, Greatness, Keys

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• Historians are dangerous people. They are capable of upsetting everything.

  Nikita Khrushchev

  People, Upset, Dangerous

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• Every man should write a brief history of his life: his parentage, his birth, his religion, when he was baptized and by whom, when ordained, what to, and by whom-give a brief sketch of all his missions and of all his official acts and the dealings of God with him. Then if he were to die and the historians wished to publish his history, they would have something to go by.

  Wilford Woodruff

  Writing, Men, Giving

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• What does anyone really know about the impetus to go to war? And so much is uncovered in hindsight. And there are aspects of even past wars that are only coming out now. Historians discover letters here, notes there, and look very carefully at different aspects of not only any conflict but any great historical event.

  Jacqueline Winspear

  War, Past, Historical

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• It is up to the historians, not politicians, to judge what happened in the past. Politicians look into the future.

  Egemen Bag?s

  Past, Judging, Politician

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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