What is all our histories, but God showing himself, shaking and trampling on everything that he has not planted.

What is all our histories, but God showing himself, shaking and trampling on everything that he has not planted.

History never looks like history when you are living through it. It always looks confusing and messy, and it always read more

History never looks like history when you are living through it. It always looks confusing and messy, and it always feels uncomfortable.

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.

Many are always praising the by-gone time, for it is natural that the old should extol the days of their read more

Many are always praising the by-gone time, for it is natural that the old should extol the days of their youth; the weak, the time of their strength; the sick, the season of their vigor; and the disappointed, the spring-tide of their hopes.

Men after death are understood worse than men of the present, but heard better.

Men after death are understood worse than men of the present, but heard better.

History is a set of lies agreed upon.

History is a set of lies agreed upon.

Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will read more

Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.

I have read somewhere or other, in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, I
think, that history is philosophy teaching by examples.

I have read somewhere or other, in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, I
think, that history is philosophy teaching by examples.

Most history is a record of the triumphs, disasters, and follies of top people. The black hole in it is read more

Most history is a record of the triumphs, disasters, and follies of top people. The black hole in it is the way of life of mute, inglorious men and women who make no nuisance of themselves in the world.