History is all explained by geography.

Regrets are idle; yet history is one long regret. Everything might have turned out so differently!

World events are the work of individuals whose motives are often frivolous, even casual.

History justifies whatever we want it to. It teaches absolutely nothing, for it contains everything and gives examples of everything.

Wherever men have lived there is a story to be told, and it depends chiefly on the story-teller or historian whether that is interesting or not.

We can chart our future clearly and wisely only when we know the path which has led to the present.

History was part of the baggage we threw overboard when we launched ourselves into the New World.

The talent of historians lies in their creating a true ensemble out of facts which are but half-true.

It is impossible to write ancient history because we lack source materials, and impossible to write modern history because we have far too many.

All the old history was written for the amusement of the ruling classes. The lower classes couldn't read, and their rulers didn't care about remembering what happened to them.

Our history is every human history; a black and gory business, with more scoundrels than wise men at the lead, and more louts than both put together to cheer and follow.

A nation writes its history in the image of its ideal.

The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.

History, n. An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.

The historian must not try to know what is truth, if he values his honesty; for, if he cares for his truths, he is certain to falsify his facts.

History is a tangled skein that one may take up at any point, and break when one has unravelled enough.

History repeats itself, but in such cunning disguise that we never detect the resemblance until the damage is done.

We need history, not to tell us what happened or to explain the past, but to make the past alive so that it can explain us and make a future possible.

More history's made by secret handshakes than by battles, bills, and proclamations.

The only lesson history has taught us is that man has not yet learned anything from history.