It is not the literal past, the "facts" of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in read more

It is not the literal past, the "facts" of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language.

Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.

Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.

History knows no resting place and no plateaus.

History knows no resting place and no plateaus.

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.

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.

Fear of serious injury alone cannot justify oppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It read more

Fear of serious injury alone cannot justify oppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.

Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.

Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.

Be as a tower firmly set; Shakes not its top for any blast that blows.

Be as a tower firmly set; Shakes not its top for any blast that blows.

History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and read more

History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's dam is the history we made today.