“Humans sometimes make surprising choices, and human history is full of uncertainties.”

—  Joseph Nye

Source: Understanding International Conflicts: An Introduction to Theory and History (6th ed., 2006), Chapter 2, Origins of the Great Twentieth Century Conflicts, p. 51.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Humans sometimes make surprising choices, and human history is full of uncertainties." by Joseph Nye?
Joseph Nye photo
Joseph Nye 27
American political scientist 1937

Related quotes

Barry Schwartz photo
Gustavo Gutiérrez photo

“Human history is in truth nothing but the history of the slow, uncertain, and surprising fulfillment of the Promise.”

Gustavo Gutiérrez (1928) Peruvian theologian

Source: A Theology of Liberation - 15th Anniversary Edition, Chapter Nine, Liberation And Salvation, p. 91-92

Jodi Picoult photo

“It's choice that makes us human.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Vanishing Acts

Pope Francis photo

“The fullness of grace can transform the human heart and enable it to do something so great as to change the course of human history.”

Pope Francis (1936) 266th Pope of the Catholic Church

2010s, Address to the United States Congress, Inauguration of the Jubilee Year of Mercy

Sarah Dessen photo

“Life is full of screwups. You're supposed to fail sometimes. It's a required part of the human existance.”

Variant: You're supposed to fail sometimes. It's a required part of the human existence
-Eli
Source: Along for the Ride

Prevale photo

“Respect is one of the most elegant and cultural choices a human being can make.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Il rispetto è una delle scelte più eleganti e culturali che un essere umano possa fare.
Source: prevale.net

William H. McNeill photo

“The rise of Islam offers perhaps the most impressive example in world history of the power of words to alter human behavior in sudden, surprising ways.”

William H. McNeill (1917–2016) Canadian historian

Source: Keeping Together in Time (1995), Ch. 4: Religious Ceremonies.

Elizabeth Kostova photo
Laurell K. Hamilton photo
William James photo

“We inherit the warlike type; and for most of the capacities of heroism that the human race is full of we have to thank this cruel history.”

William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist

1900s, The Moral Equivalent of War (1906)
Context: We inherit the warlike type; and for most of the capacities of heroism that the human race is full of we have to thank this cruel history. Dead men tell no tales, and if there were any tribes of other type than this they have left no survivors. Our ancestors have bred pugnacity into our bone and marrow, and thousands of years of peace won't breed it out of us. The popular imagination fairly fattens on the thought of wars. Let public opinion once reach a certain fighting pitch, and no ruler can withstand it. In the Boer war both governments began with bluff, but they couldn't stay there; the military tension was too much for them.

Related topics