Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress read more

Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.

Qualities absolutely necessary for a historian: (1) Imagination. (2) Prejudice. (3) The power of writing your own biography at the read more

Qualities absolutely necessary for a historian: (1) Imagination. (2) Prejudice. (3) The power of writing your own biography at the same time.

Now stiff on a pillar with a phallic air nelson stylites in Trafalgar square reminds the British what once they read more

Now stiff on a pillar with a phallic air nelson stylites in Trafalgar square reminds the British what once they were.

What is the end of Fame? 'tis but to fill
A certain portion of uncertain paper:
Some read more

What is the end of Fame? 'tis but to fill
A certain portion of uncertain paper:
Some liken it to climbing up a hill,
Whose summit, like all hills, is lost in vapour:
For this men write, speak, preach, and heroes kill,
And bards burn what they call their "midnight taper,"
To have, when the original is dust,
A name, a wretched picture, and worse bust.

History doesn't repeat itself - at best it sometimes rhymes

History doesn't repeat itself - at best it sometimes rhymes

Herostratus lives that burnt the temple of Diana; he is almost
lost that built it.

Herostratus lives that burnt the temple of Diana; he is almost
lost that built it.

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.

History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.

With the Kennedys, the genes are in magnificent alignment, but the stars are demonstrably crossed.

With the Kennedys, the genes are in magnificent alignment, but the stars are demonstrably crossed.