History is not just names and dates — it is the story of how we got here and a warning about where we might be headed. These quotes look at the past with curiosity, respect, and the awareness that those who ignore it tend to repeat it.
“War had always seemed to me to be a purely human behavior. Accounts of warlike behavior date back to the very first written records of human history it seemed to be an almost universal characteristic of human groups.”
“I want to reform the tax code so that it's simple, fair, and asks the wealthiest households to pay higher taxes on incomes over $250,000 - the same rate we had when Bill Clinton was president the same rate we had when our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest surplus in history, and a lot of millionaires to boot.”
“Americans are rising to the tasks of history, and they expect the same of us.”
“But, it's because we have a harder way to succeed in life as Serbs because of the past that we had and because of the history that we had. We have to dig deeper and we have to do much more in order to be seen and to be spotted.”
“The history of all countries shows that the working class exclusively by its own effort is able to develop only trade-union consciousness.”
“Open markets offer the only realistic hope of pulling billions of people in developing countries out of abject poverty, while sustaining prosperity in the industrialized world.”
“I'm the only person of distinction who has ever had a depression named for him.”
“What is history but a fable agreed upon?”
“Despise the enemy strategically, but take him seriously tactically.”
“The history of free men is never really written by chance but by choice their choice!”
“The true history of my administration will be written 50 years from now, and you and I will not be around to see it.”
“Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of the nature of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.”
“I'm inspired by history, different periods.”
“I'll watch any show on the History Channel.”
“I don't really think of things in terms of legacy or where I stand in the history of Nintendo or anything like that.”
“Yes, they broke the law, but we can't deport them. Let's get over this pointing fingers and do something about that, whether it - they have to pay a fine, learn to speak English, the history, you can do that. And then you have to give visas for the skills we need.”