10 Great History Quotes

History is the sum total of the things that could have been avoided.
(Konrad Adenauer, German statesman)

The whole interest of history lies in the fortunes of the poor.
(Ralph W.Emerson, US poet & essayist)

Opinions concerning acts are not history; acts themselves alone are history.
(William Blake, English poet)

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 damn is the history we make today.
(Henry Ford, US car manufacturer)

History is an endless repetition of the wrong way of living.
(Lawrence Durrell, British novelist)

History never looks like history when you're living through it. It always looks confusing and messy, and it always feels uncomfortable.
(John W.Gardner, US writer)

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.
(Leslie P.Hartley, English novelist)

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
(Peter de Vries, US novelist)

Study the past if you would divine the future.
(Confucius, Chinese philosopher)

Even God cannot change the past.
(Agathon, Athenian poet and playwright)