The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.

The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.

A man can be a hero if he is a scientist, or a soldier, or a drug addict, or a read more

A man can be a hero if he is a scientist, or a soldier, or a drug addict, or a disc jockey, or a crummy mediocre politician. A man can be a hero because he suffers and despairs; or because he thinks logically and analytically; or because he is "sensitive;" or because he is cruel. Wealth establishes a man as a hero, and so does poverty. Virtually any circumstance in a man's life will make him a hero to some group of people and has a mythic rendering in the culture -- in literature, art, theater, or the daily newspapers.

History: An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly read more

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

The man who sees two or three generations is like someone who sits in a conjurer's booth at a fair read more

The man who sees two or three generations is like someone who sits in a conjurer's booth at a fair and sees the tricks two or three times. They are meant to be seen only once.

How many pens are broken, how many ink bottles consumed, to write about things that have never happened.

How many pens are broken, how many ink bottles consumed, to write about things that have never happened.

The past actually happened but history is only what someone wrote down.

The past actually happened but history is only what someone wrote down.

History is a vast early warning system.

History is a vast early warning system.

Our ignorance of history makes us libel our own times. People have always been like this.

Our ignorance of history makes us libel our own times. People have always been like this.

History books that contain no lies are extremely dull.

History books that contain no lies are extremely dull.