Historical Interpretation Quotes

A Marxist could not open a newspaper without finding on every page confirming evidence for his interpretation of history; not only in the news, but also in its presentation — which revealed the class bias of the paper — and especially of course what the paper did not say.

There is that great proverb - that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. That did not come to me until much later. Once I realized that, I had to be a writer. I had to be that historian. It's not one man's job. It's not one person's job. But it is something we have to do, so that the story of the hunt will also reflect the agony, the travail - the bravery, even, of the lions.

There is that great proverb — that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.

If every nation gets the government it deserves, every generation writes the history which corresponds with its view of the world.

The "October Revolution" is a myth generated by the winners, the Bolsheviks, and swallowed whole by progressive circles in the West.

One duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.

History is a set of lies agreed upon.

History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember. All other history defeats itself.

History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.

People say history was written by the winners. No, it wasn't. It was written by the bullies.

What is history but a fable agreed upon?

Each generation confronts new problems, encounters new facts, and tells our history somewhat differently.

I study history in order to give an interpretation.

Though God cannot alter the past, historians can.

History written today is much more accurate than history written in the 18th century.

All history is contemporary history.

Most history is guessing, and the rest is prejudice.

Modern history is like a deaf person who is in the habit of answering questions that no one has put to them.

History is nothing but gossip about the past, with the hope that it might be true.

Oh do not read history, for that I know must be false.

History is much more the product of chaos than of conspiracy.

I have a hard time with historians because they idolize the truth. The truth is not uplifting; it destroys. I could tell most of the secretaries in the church office building that they are ugly and fat. That would be the truth, but it would hurt and destroy them. Historians should tell only that part of the truth that is inspiring and uplifting.

I have a multivolume history of the world from the 19th century that begins with Noah's flood as though it's as historical a fact as the rise and fall of Rome.

The ifs and buts of history...form an insubstantial if intoxicating diet.

In my world, history comes down to language and art. No one cares much about what battles were fought, who won them and who lost them - unless there is a painting, a play, a song or a poem that speaks of the event.