Marc Bloch

The historian is, by definition, absolutely incapable of observing the facts which he examines. Marc Bloch History is, in its essentials, the science of change. It knows and it teaches that it is impossible to find two events that are ever exactly alike, because the conditions from which they spring are never identical. Marc Bloch [...]

Michael Beschloss

So the result was that as one approached a political convention for most of the 19th century and for most of the 20th century until the 1960′s, part of the drama was the fact that you didn’t know ultimately who was going to be the nominee at the end of that convention week. Michael Beschloss [...]

Bernard Berenson

Psychoanalysts are not occupied with the minds of their patients; they do not believe in the mind but in a cerebral intestine. Bernard Berenson A complete life may be one ending in so full an identification with the oneself that there is no self left to die. Bernard Berenson Between truth and the search for [...]

Mary Ritter Beard

Those who sit at the feast will continue to enjoy themselves even though the veil that separates them from the world of toiling reality below has been lifted by mass revolts and critics. Mary Ritter Beard Viewed narrowly, all life is universal hunger and an expression of energy associated with it. Mary Ritter Beard It [...]

Charles A. Beard

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. Charles A. Beard You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence. Charles A. Beard [...]

George Bancroft

Beauty is but the sensible image of the Infinite. Like truth and justice it lives within us; like virtue and the moral law it is a companion of the soul. George Bancroft In nine times out of ten, the slanderous tongue belongs to a disappointed person. George Bancroft The public is wiser than the wisest [...]

Stephen Ambrose

Crazy Horse saw history as integrated in the present, incorporated into daily life. Stephen Ambrose Johnson had been the most powerful man in the world, yet the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong had resisted, overcome his power, broken his will. Stephen Ambrose Like their predecessors, the Presidents of today just throw up their hands. Stephen [...]

Arrian

They must therefore not spoil Alexander’s undertaking, especially when they were almost at the close of their toils, and were, moreover, no longer in any difficulty about provisions on their coasting cruise. Arrian Our enemies are Medes and Persians, men who for centuries have lived soft and luxurious lives; we of Macedon for generations past [...]

Hannah Arendt

Action without a name, a who attached to it, is meaningless. Hannah Arendt Our tradition of political thought had its definite beginning in the teachings of Plato and Aristotle. I believe it came to a no less definite end in the theories of Karl Marx. Hannah Arendt Poets are the only people to whom love [...]

Cleveland Amory

A “good” family, it seems, is one that used to be better. Cleveland Amory I can’t take a well-tanned person seriously. Cleveland Amory The facts of life are very stubborn things. Cleveland Amory There are three terrible ages of childhood – 1 to 10, 10 to 20, and 20 to 30. Cleveland Amory As anyone [...]

William Camden

The sea hath fish for every man. William Camden Better a bad excuse, than none at all. William Camden The early bird catches the worm. William Camden

John Acton

Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin. John Acton The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the [...]

James Truslow Adams

Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, ‘This is the real me,’ and when you have found that attitude, follow it. James Truslow Adams The freedom now desired by many is not freedom to do and dare but [...]

Lord Acton

Be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favourites. Lord Acton Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity. Lord Acton History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the [...]

Brooks Adams

Politics, as a practice, whatever its profession, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. Brooks Adams The difference is slight, to the influence of an author, whether he is read by 500 readers, or by five hundred thousand; if he can select the 500, he reaches the five hundred thousand. Brooks Adams One friend [...]

Henry Adams

Man is an imperceptible atom always trying to become one with God. Henry Adams No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous. Henry Adams Chaos often breeds life when order breeds habit. Henry Adams I have written too much history to [...]

Henry B. Adams

We combat obstacles in order to get repose, and when got, the repose is insupportable. Henry B. Adams At best, the renewal of broken relations is a nervous matter. Henry B. Adams Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit. Henry B. Adams Politics are a very unsatisfactory game. Henry B. Adams Simplicity is the [...]

Harold Acton

The biographies and autobiographies are on the whole more impressive than the fiction of the last two decades, but the freakish best sellers among them are least likely to withstand the test of time. Harold Acton So often is the virgin sheet of paper more real than what one has to say, and so often [...]