Quotes about history
page 54

Shankar Dayal Sharma photo

“Not only that he was a spiritualist, a moralist, an educationist]], but he was a good administrator too. He had been elected as Vice President of India and in this capacity as chairman of the Rajya Sabha he created history by taking hard stand against an MP who embarrassed him.”

Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918–1999) Indian politician

Source: Commissions and Omissions by Indian Presidents and Their Conflicts with the Prime Ministers Under the Constitution: 1977-2001, P.202.

Zakir Hussain (politician) photo
Zakir Hussain (politician) photo
Zakir Hussain (politician) photo
V. V. Giri photo

“He must always be remembered for a significant event in Indian History viz., when he appeared in Court as President of India when his election was in dispute.”

V. V. Giri (1894–1980) Indian politician and 4th president of India

Chief Justice Alladi Kuppuswamy in: P. 85
Presidents of India, 1950-2003

Gulzarilal Nanda photo
Rajiv Gandhi photo
Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma photo

“Later, he graduated from the then Travancore University with specialization in Economics, Politics and History. The varsity honoured him with Moncombu Aandi Iyer Gold Medal for being the best student in Sanskrit.”

Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma (1922–2013) Maharaja of Travancore

Sangeetha Seshagiri, in Marthanda Varma, Titular Head of Travancore Royal Family, Passes Away (16 December 2013) http://www.ibtimes.co.in/articles/530446/20131216/marthanda-varma-passes-away-travancore-royalfamily-sreepadmanabhaswamytemple.htm

Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar photo
Kage Baker photo
Amrita Sher-Gil photo
Bal Gangadhar Tilak photo

“The Congress movement was for a long time purely occidental in its mind, character and methods, confined to the English-educated few, founded on the political rights and interests of the people read in the light of English history and European ideals, but with no roots either in the past of the country or in the inner spirit of the nation…. To bring in the mass of the people, to found the greatness of the future on the greatness of the past, to infuse Indian politics with Indian religious fervour and spirituality are the indispensable conditions for a great and powerful political awakening in India. Others, writers, thinkers, spiritual leaders, had seen this truth. Mr. Tilak was the first to bring it into the actual field of practical politics….. There are always two classes of political mind: one is preoccupied with details for their own sake, revels in the petty points of the moment and puts away into the background the great principles and the great necessities, the other sees rather these first and always and details only in relation to them. The one type moves in a routine circle which may or may not have an issue; it cannot see the forest for the trees and it is only by an accident that it stumbles, if at all, on the way out. The other type takes a mountain-top view of the goal and all the directions and keeps that in its mental compass through all the deflections, retardations and tortuosities which the character of the intervening country may compel it to accept; but these it abridges as much as possible. The former class arrogate the name of statesman in their own day; it is to the latter that posterity concedes it and sees in them the true leaders of great movements. Mr. Tilak, like all men of pre-eminent political genius, belongs to this second and greater order of mind.”

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920) Indian independence activist

Sri Aurobindo, (From an introduction to a book entitled Speeches and Writings of Tilak.), quoted from Sri Aurobindo, ., Nahar, S., Aurobindo, ., & Institut de recherches évolutives (Paris). India's rebirth: A selection from Sri Aurobindo's writing, talks and speeches. Paris: Institut de Recherches Evolutives. 3rd Edition (2000). https://web.archive.org/web/20170826004028/http://bharatvani.org/books/ir/IR_frontpage.htm

Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV photo
M. S. Swaminathan photo

“Dr. Swaminathan is a living legend. His contributions to Agricultural Science have made an indelible mark on food production in India and elsewhere in the developing world. By any standards, he will go into the annals of history as a world scientist of rare distinction.”

M. S. Swaminathan (1925) Indian scientist

Stated by Javier Perez de Cuellar, Secretary General of the United Nations on the occasion of award of the First World Food Prize. Quoted here World Food Prize, Prof. Swaminathan, 1987 World Food Prize Laureate, 25 November 2013, World Food Prize Organization http://www.worldfoodprize.org/Laureates/Past/1987.htm,

C. V. Raman photo

“Dr. C. V. Raman was the greatest scientist of modern India and one of the greatest intellects our country has produced in its long history. His mind was like the diamond, which he studied and explained. His life’s work consisted in throwing light upon the nature of lights, and the world honoured him in many ways for the new knowledge which he won for science.”

C. V. Raman (1888–1970) Indian physicist

Indira Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India quoted in [Cahn, R.W., The Coming of Materials Science, http://books.google.com/books?id=CCmJMr_K5NIC&pg=PA234, 16 March 2001, Elsevier, 978-0-08-052942-4, 272]

Alasdair MacIntyre photo

“It is always dangerous to draw too precise parallels between one historical period and another; and among the most misleading of such parallels are those which have been drawn between our own age in Europe and North America and the epoch in which the Roman empire declined into the Dark Ages. Nonetheless certain parallels there are. A crucial turning point in that earlier history occurred when men and women of good will turned aside from the task of shoring up the Roman imperium and ceased to identify the continuation of civility and moral community with the maintenance of that imperium.”

What they set themselves to achieve instead - often not recognizing fully what they were doing - was the construction of new forms of community within which the moral life could be sustained so that both morality and civility might survive the coming ages of barbarism and darkness. If my account of our moral condition is correct, we ought also to conclude that for some time now we too have reached that turning point.
Source: After Virtue (1981), p. 263

Howie Rose photo

“The Islanders have had two penalty shots in Stanley Cup playoff history, here is number 3. Bates against Joseph ……Bates in on goal …. he shoots, He scores!”

Howie Rose (1954) American sports announcer

Consider that for a franchise loaded with memorable postseason moments, you have just witnessed one of the most memorable. A penalty shot goal by Shawn Bates to give the Islanders a 4–3 lead with 2 minutes and 30 seconds left in regulation time.
Calling Shawn Bates penalty shot in Game 4 of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs)
2002

Dominicus Corea photo
Catherine of Aragon photo

“Nature wronged her in making her a woman. But for her sex she could have surpassed all the heros of history.”

Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536) first wife of Henry VIII of England (1485–1536)

Thomas Cromwell — quoted in Alison Weir (1991). The Six Wives of Henry VIII. ISBN 0802136834, p. 197

George Pólya photo
Joe Clark photo
Ausonius photo

“In the history of versification did anyone ever juggle so wildly well with iambics, sapphics, dactylics, anapestics, and all the rest? He fabricated verses most ingeniously, most enthusiastically. His virtuosity is amazing. Almost every line he wrote was a tour de force.”

Ausonius (310–395) poet

And in spite of all this highly self-conscious technical facility he managed occasionally to write poetry.
Edward Townsend Booth, God Made the Country (1946), p. 37.
Criticism

Luise Rainer photo
Edward Coke photo
Alessandro Del Piero photo

“Del Piero is the best player in the history of Italian football. He is a person for who I do not only have a lot of respect, but a lot of affection as well.”

Alessandro Del Piero (1974) Italian former professional footballer

Raúl González Blanco, Goal.com http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italian-football/2014/12/16/7126242/del-piero-the-best-italian-player-ever-says-raul.html

Richard Rodríguez photo
Zinedine Zidane photo

“Zidane is one of the greatest players in history, a truly magnificent player.”

Zinedine Zidane (1972) French association football player and manager

Franz Beckenbauer, 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/france/5147908.stm.

Steven Gerrard photo

“He’s been a reference to all his team-mates throughout the years and is now in history for such a brilliant career at his club for all his life.”

Steven Gerrard (1980) English footballer

Iker Casillas, Real Madrid Legend ( Source https://arjyomitra94.wordpress.com/2015/07/06/quotes-on-steven-gerrard/)

Ptolemy photo
Józef Piłsudski photo

“Józef Piłsudski will remain in the memory of our nation as the founder of independence and as the victorious leader who fended off a foreign assault that threatened the whole of Europe and its civilization. Józef Piłsudski served his country well, and has entered our history forever.”

Józef Piłsudski (1867–1935) Polish politician and Prime Minister

Declaration of the Sejm (Lower House) of the Polish Parliament, May 12, 1995, the 60th anniversary of Piłsudski's death. Józef Piłsudski http://members.lycos.co.uk/jozefpilsudski/index2.html
About him

Dylan Moran photo

“Or Berlusconi, in Italy, right; the envy of the world, Italy, in terms of history, art and culture, 98 different political parties, and they still managed to elect him!”

Dylan Moran (1971) Irish actor and comedian

He’s so fucking crooked he sleeps on a spiral staircase! So thoroughly corrupt, every time he smiles an angel gets gonorrhoea! He's had so many face-lifts, his face has moved to the top of his head, you have to get on a step-ladder to watch him lie!
On Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi.
What It Is (2009)

William McKinley photo
James Burke (science historian) photo
Antoine Lavoisier photo
Roger Federer photo

“I never can beat Roger, he’s too much for me… but the Senior Tour, I will beat him then! He’s the best of history and I’m very lucky to play the best player of the world.”

Roger Federer (1981) Swiss tennis player

David Ferrer, after losing to Federer in the 2014 Cincinnati Masters final. http://www.thesportreview.com/tsr/2014/08/cincinnati-masters-fearsome-federer-cuts-down-ferrer-again-for-80th-title/

Roger Federer photo

“Roger Federer is the most talented tennis player I have ever seen. He has the capacity to become the greatest in history.”

Roger Federer (1981) Swiss tennis player

Nick Bollettieri. http://thestar.co.za/general/print_article.php?fArticleId=2235877

Roger Federer photo
Roger Federer photo

“We are witnessing history. This is the most dominant athlete on planet earth today.”

Roger Federer (1981) Swiss tennis player

Jim Courier, former world No.1, while commentating on Australia's Channel Seven in 2007 http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200701/25/eng20070125_344854.html

Prem Rawat photo
Hunter S. Thompson photo
Arthur C. Clarke photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo
Michael Stevens (educator) photo
Ethan Allen photo
Gerald Ford photo

“An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history; conviction results from whatever offense or offenses two-thirds of the other body considers to be sufficiently serious to require removal of the accused from office.”

Gerald Ford (1913–2006) American politician, 38th President of the United States (in office from 1974 to 1977)

Remarks in the U.S. House of Representatives in an effort to impeach Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (15 April 1970); recorded in the Congressional Record, vol. 116, p. 11913 and http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Senate_Impeachment_Role.htm.
1970s

W. H. Auden photo

“And the poor in their fireless lodgings, dropping the sheets
Of the evening paper: "Our day is our loss, O show us
History the operator, the
Organiser, Time the refreshing river."”

<p> And the nations combine each cry, invoking the life
That shapes the individual belly and orders
The private nocturnal terror:
"Did you not found the city state of the sponge,<p>"Raise the vast military empires of the shark
And the tiger, establish the robin's plucky canton?
Intervene. Descend as a dove or
A furious papa or a mild engineer, but descend."
Source: Spain (1937), Lines 33–44

Thurgood Marshall photo

“The experience of Negroes in America has been different in kind, not just in degree, from that of other ethnic groups. It is not merely the history of slavery alone, but also that a whole people were marked as inferior by the law. And that mark has endured.”

Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993) Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court

Regents of University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265, 400-401 (1978) (Marshall, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

James P. Gray photo
Tracey Thorn photo
Will Durant photo
Dietrich Bonhoeffer photo

“What lies behind the complaint about the dearth of civil courage? In recent years we have seen a great deal of bravery and self-sacrifice, but civil courage hardly anywhere, even among ourselves. To attribute this simply to personal cowardice would be too facile a psychology; its background is quite different. In a long history, we Germans have had to learn the need for and the strength of obedience. In the subordination of all personal wishes and ideas to the tasks to which we have been called, we have seen the meaning and greatness of our lives. We have looked upwards, not in servile fear, but in free trust, seeing in our tasks a call, and in our call a vocation. This readiness to follow a command from "above" rather than our own private opinions and wishes was a sign of legitimate self-distrust. Who would deny that in obedience, in their task and calling, the Germans have again and again shown the utmost bravery and self-sacrifice? But the German has kept his freedom — and what nation has talked more passionately of freedom than the Germans, from Luther to the idealist philosophers?”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi

by seeking deliverance from self-will through service to the community. Calling and freedom were to him two sides of the same thing. But in this he misjudged the world; he did not realize that his submissiveness and self-sacrifice could be exploited for evil ends. When that happened, the exercise of the calling itself became questionable, and all the moral principles of the German were bound to totter. The fact could not be escaped that the Germans still lacked something fundamental: he could not see the need for free and responsible action, even in opposition to the task and his calling; in its place there appeared on the one hand an irresponsible lack of scruple, and on the other a self-tormenting punctiliousness that never led to action. Civil courage, in fact, can grow only out of the free responsibility of free men. Only now are the Germans beginning to discover the meaning of free responsibility. It depends on a God who demands responsible action in a bold venture of faith, and who promises forgiveness and consolation to the man who becomes a sinner in that venture.
Source: Letters and Papers from Prison (1967; 1997), Civil Courage, p. 5

Daniel Abraham photo

“History’s made of surprises that seem obvious in retrospect.”

Daniel Abraham (1969) speculative fiction writer from the United States

Source: Nemesis Games (2015), Chapter 28 (p. 296)

“If history remains neutral and does not condemn and declare such acts as immoral, it would fail to create any consciousness about these evil deeds.”

Mubarak Ali (1941) Historian, activist, scholar

Dimensions of History, Chapter: The judgment of History, p. 77
History, What History Tells Us, Dimensions of History

“I can only answer that I tried to tell the truth and, if not be objective, at least be fair; history is not served when reporters prize trepidation and propriety over the robust journalistic duty to tell the whole story.”

Randy Shilts (1951–1994) American journalist

The Life and Times of Harvey Milk Randy Shilts, Chronicler of AIDS Epidemic, Dies at 42; Journalism: Author of 'And the Band Played On' is credited with awakening nation to the health crisis http://articles.latimes.com/1994-02-18/news/mn-24467_1_randy-shilts
Quote

Poul Anderson photo

“I was not speaking of minor ripples in the mainstream of history—certainly those are ruled by chance. But the broad current moves quite inexorably, I assure you.”

Poul Anderson (1926–2001) American science fiction and fantasy writer

Cold Victory, in Scithers & Schweitzer (eds.) Another Round at the Spaceport Bar, p. 181. Originally appeared in Venture Science Fiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_Science_Fiction, May 1957
Short fiction

Freeman Dyson photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“[S]omeone who doesn’t know a country’s history is bound to chuckle at the things its people worry about.”

Brian Reynolds Myers (1963) American professor of international studies

2010s, "Conspiracy Theory"? (August 2019)

“Like Goethe and Spengler I’m convinced that history has an inner, organic logic which can’t be grasped purely in terms of causality.”

Brian Reynolds Myers (1963) American professor of international studies

Interview with Methodik http://sthelepress.com/index.php/2019/03/04/on-that-march-first-speech-b-r-myers/ (2019)
2010s

Benito Mussolini photo

“The history of many saints, beatified by the church, is repugnant. It shows nothing more than a profound aberration of the human spirit in search of ultra-terrestrial chimeras.”

Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) Duce and President of the Council of Ministers of Italy. Leader of the National Fascist Party and subsequen…

1900s, God Does Not Exist (1904)

“History is full of the accounts of those who imposed their absolute power against popular will.”

Mubarak Ali (1941) Historian, activist, scholar

What History Tells Us, p. 8
History, What History Tells Us

Michel Henry photo

“Certainly, Marx was atheist, "materialist", etc. But for a philosopher also, it's advisable to distinguish between what he is and what he thinks to be. The most important, this is not what Marx thought and that we ignore, but what think the texts he has written. What appears in them, in a way as obvious as exceptional in the history of philosophy, this is a metaphysics of the individual. Marx is one of the first Christian thinkers of Occident.”

Michel Henry (1922–2002) French writer

Michel Henry, Marx II. Une philosophie de l’économie, éd. Gallimard, coll. « Nrf », 1976, p. 445
Books on Economy and Politics, Marx. A Philosophy of Human Being (1976)
Original: (fr) Marx certes était athée, « matérialiste », etc. Mais chez un philosophe aussi, il convient de distinguer ce qu’il est de ce qu’il croit être. Ce qui compte, ce n’est d’ailleurs pas ce que Marx pensait et que nous ignorons, c’est ce que pensent les textes qu’il a écrits. Ce qui paraît en eux, de façon aussi évidente qu’exceptionnelle dans l’histoire de la philosophie, c’est une métaphysique de l’individu. Marx est l’un des premiers penseurs chrétiens de l’Occident.

Andrea Dworkin photo
Victor Hugo photo
Victor Hugo photo
Clifford D. Simak photo
Marilyn Ferguson photo
William Lloyd Garrison photo

“History shows that voting is the sword that cuts through all injustice.”

at LCV Annual Gala https://www.lcv.org/article_category/blog/Speech

Learned Hand photo
Marilyn Ferguson photo
Dana Arnold photo
Dana Arnold photo

“When I say ‘gender’ you think ‘women’. And it is true that most gender history is written from a woman-centred perspective, but much research covers both men and women and importantly the relationships between the two.”

Dana Arnold (1961) Middlessex uni prof

Source: Reading Architectural History (2002), Ch. 6 : Reading architectural herstories : The discourses of gender

Dana Arnold photo
T.S. Eliot photo
Dana Arnold photo
Dana Arnold photo
Dana Arnold photo
Dana Arnold photo
Dana Arnold photo
Dana Arnold photo
Jaroslav Kvapil photo

“The program of our nation is given by its history and by its racial individuality, by its modern political life and by its rights and by all that which gave rise to these rights and solemnly guaranteed them.”

The Bohemian Review, Volume 1, p.5
Address of Bohemian Authors to the Parliamentary Representatives of the Bohemian People (Manifesto of Czech writers)

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar photo

“The history of India is a history of mortal conflict between Buddhism and Brahmanism.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) Father of republic India, champion of human rights, father of India's Constitution, polymath, revolutionary…

As quoted in The Radical in Ambedkar: Critical Reflections

Donald J. Trump photo

“My administration has taken the most aggressive action in modern history to prevent the spread of this illness in the United States. We are ready. We are ready. Totally ready. On January 31st, I ordered the suspension of foreign nationals who have recently been in China from entering the United States. An action which the Democrats loudly criticized and protested and now everybody’s complimenting me saying, “Thank you very much. You were 100% correct.””

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Could’ve been a whole different story. But I say, so let’s get this right. A virus starts in China, bleeds its way into various countries all around the world, doesn’t spread widely at all in the United States because of the early actions that myself and my administration took against a lot of other wishes, and the Democrats’ single talking point, and you see it, is that it’s Donald Trump’s fault, right? It’s Donald Trump’s fault. No, just things that happened.
2020s, 2020, February, Donald Trump Charleston, South Carolina Rally (February 28, 2020)

Naomi Klein photo

“Instead of rescuing the dirty industries of the last century, we should be boosting the clean ones that will lead us into safety in the coming century (Green New Deal). If there is one thing history teaches us, it's that moments of shock are profoundly volatile. We either lose a whole lot of ground, get fleeced by elites, and pay the price for decades, or we win progressive victories that seemed impossible just a few weeks earlier. This is no time to lose our nerve.”

Naomi Klein (1970) Canadian author and activist

Quoted in 'We Know This Script': Naomi Klein Warns of 'Coronavirus Capitalism' in New Video Detailing Battle Before Us https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/17/we-know-script-naomi-klein-warns-coronavirus-capitalism-new-video-detailing-battle, by Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams, (17 March 2020)

Marilyn Ferguson photo

“In this century we have seen into the heart of the atom. We transformed it—and history—forever. But we have also seen into the heart of the heart.”

Marilyn Ferguson (1938–2008) American writer

The Aquarian Conspiracy (1980), Chapter Thirteen, The Whole- Earth Conspiracy

Tedros Adhanom photo

“We’ve said from the beginning that our greatest concern is the impact this virus could have if it gains a foothold in countries with weaker health systems, or with vulnerable populations. That concern has now become very real and urgent. We know that if this disease takes hold in these countries, there could be significant sickness and loss of life. But that is not inevitable. Unlike any pandemic in history, we have the power to change the way this goes.”

Tedros Adhanom (1965) Director-General of the World Health Organization, former Minister in Ethiopia

WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 20 March 2020 https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---20-march-2020, World Health Organization.

Thomas Hylland Eriksen photo

“Studies of thought and modes of reasoning have been central in the history of anthropology from the nineteenth century to the present day.”

Thomas Hylland Eriksen (1962) Norwegian social anthropologist and professor

Source: What is Anthropology? (2nd ed., 2017), Ch. 8 : Thought

Ken Ham photo

“I’m shocked at the countless hundreds of millions of dollars that have been spent over the years in the desperate and fruitless search for extraterrestrial life... Of course, secularists are desperate to find life in outer space, as they believe that would provide evidence that life can evolve in different locations and given the supposed right conditions! The search for extraterrestrial life is really driven by man’s rebellion against God in a desperate attempt to supposedly prove evolution!... And I do believe there can’t be other intelligent beings in outer space because of the meaning of the gospel. You see, the Bible makes it clear that Adam’s sin affected the whole universe. This means that any aliens would also be affected by Adam’s sin, but because they are not Adam’s descendants, they can’t have salvation. One day, the whole universe will be judged by fire, and there will be a new heavens and earth. God’s Son stepped into history to be Jesus Christ, the “Godman,” to be our relative, and to be the perfect sacrifice for sin—the Savior of mankind. Jesus did not become the “GodKlingon” or the “GodMartian!””

Ken Ham (1951) Australian young Earth creationist

Only descendants of Adam can be saved. God’s Son remains the “Godman” as our Savior. In fact, the Bible makes it clear that we see the Father through the Son (and we see the Son through His Word). To suggest that aliens could respond to the gospel is just totally wrong. An understanding of the gospel makes it clear that salvation through Christ is only for the Adamic race—human beings who are all descendants of Adam.

"We'll find a new Earth within 20 years" http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2014/07/20/well-find-a-new-earth-within-20-years/, Around the World with Ken Ham (July 20, 2014)
2010s, Around the World with Ken Ham

Alastair Reynolds photo