Historical Quotes

If thy avarice had not been insatiable, thou never wouldst have violated the monument of the dead.
~ inscription found by Cyrus inside the tomb of Nitocris, queen of Assyria

Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, statesman, orator and writer (106-43 BCE)

History is philosophy learned from examples.
~ Greek teacher and historian Dionysius (fl. c.30 BCE)

It is better to live rich than to die rich.
~ Samuel Johnson

The English have no sense; they give us twenty knives...for one beaver skin.
~ an Algonquin Indian, 1634

These are the times that try men's souls.
~ Tom Paine

Nothing of importance happened today.
~ England's King George III, diary entry, July 4, 1776

I cannot answer for his men, but Prescott will fight you to the gates of hell.
~ what British General Thomas Gage was told before the battle at Breed's Hill (we know it as Bunker Hill)

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.
~ George Washington

The American war is over, but this is far from being the case with the American Revolution. Nothing but the first act of the drama is closed.
~ Benjamin Rush

Nature has given to our black brethren talents equal to those of other colours of men.
~ Thomas Jefferson to slave-born inventor Benjamin Banneker, 1792

The appointment of a woman to office is an innovation for which the public is not prepared, nor am I.
~ Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, 1807

The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people.
~ John Adams

We have seen the mere distinction of color made, in the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man.
~ James Madison, at the Constitutional Convention

I only know two things about the Monroe Doctrine: one is that no American I have met knows what it is; the other is that no American I have met will consent to its being tampered with.
~ Salvadore de Madariaga, international diplomat and author

Liberty is power. The nation blessed with the largest portion of liberty must in proportion to its numbers be the most powerful nation upon earth, and the tenure of power by man is...upon condition that it shall be exercised to...improve the condition of himself and his fellow-men.
~ John Quincy Adams

Without union or independence and liberty would never have been achieved; without union they never can be maintained.
~ Andrew Jackson

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
~ Benjamin Disraeli

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
~ Abraham Lincoln

You can always get the truth from an American statesman after he has turned seventy, or given up all hope of the presidency.
~ Noted abolitionist, Wendell Phillips

The war in America has resolved itself into a war between freedom and slavery.
~ London Gazette

We are utterly cut off from the world, surrounded by a circle of fire. The fiery shower of shells goes on, day and night: People do nothing but eat what they can get, sleep when they can, and dodge the shells.
~ Dora Miller, resident, on the siege of Vicksburg

All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.
~ Thaddeus Stevens

There they are, cutting each other's throats, because one half of them prefer hiring their servants for life, and the other by the hour.
~ Thomas Carlyle

If I owned both Hell and Texas, I'd rent out Texas and live in Hell.
~ William T. Sherman

A man without history is like a tree without roots.
~ Marcus Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (1917)

I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.
~ Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

Hell, there are no rules here--we're trying to accomplish something.
~ Thomas A. Edison

This "telephone" has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.
~ Western Union internal memo, 1876

Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is usually Judas who writes the biography.
~ Oscar Wilde, 1887

Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.
~ Lord Kelvin, president of the Royal Society, 1895

Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
~ Marshall Ferdinand Foch, professor of strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre

I can predict with absolute certainty that within another generation there will be another world war if the nations of the world do not concert the method by which to prevent it.
~ Woodrow Wilson, 1919

The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?
~ David Sarnoff's associates, in response to his urgings for investment in radio, 1920s

Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die. And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow, and the triumphs that are the aftermath of war.
~ Herbert C. Hoover

Mellon pulled the whistle, Hoover rang the bell, Wall Street gave the signal, And the country went to hell.
~ Anonymous ditty

My motto is, "Destroy by all and any means." National Socialism will reshape the world.
~ Adolf Hitler

Where Napoleon failed, I shall succeed. I shall land on the shores of Britain.
~ Adolf Hitler

The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken.
~ General John L. DeWitt, recommending the internment of
Japanese Americans during World War II, February 13, 1942

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
~ Winston Churchill of Britain's fighter pilots

We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand, of overwhelming power on the other.
~ George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.
~ General George S. Patton, U.S. Army

It is fun to be in the same decade with you.
~ a cable from FDR to Churchill after their first meeting

We are not retreating--we are advancing in another direction.
~ General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964)

I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
~ Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

I do not believe that Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines.... I am convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength and there is nothing for which they have less respect than for weakness, especially military weakness.
~ Winston Churchill

From Stettin to the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
~ Winston Churchill

I feel sure we will win in the end. It might take plenty of sacrifice, but I don't think we'll ever again take such humiliating treatment as dished out by bus drivers in this city.
~ Rosa Parks of Montgomery, Alabama

History will say that my voice--which disturbed the white man's smugness, his arrogance, and his complacency--that my voice helped to save America from a grave, possibly fatal catastrophe.
~ Malcolm X

To give up the task of reforming society is to give up one's responsibility as a free man.
~ Alan Paton, 1967