The kings of Spain brought us the conquistadores and masters, whose footprints remained in the circular land grants assigned to those searching for gold in the sands of rivers, an abusive and shameful form of exploitation, traces of which can be noted from the air in many places around the country.

Black people comprehend the South. We understand its weight. It has rested on our backs… I knew that my heart would break if ever I put my foot down on that soil, moist, still, with old hurts. I had to face the fear/loathing at its source or it would consume me whole.

For Africa to me… is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.

We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us.

Returning to your family and where you came from, and your history… this is what makes you strong. It’s not looking out that’s going to do that – it’s looking in.

You should read history and look at ostracism, persecution, martyrdom, and that kind of thing. They always happen to the best men, you know.

Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me.

I don’t think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews.

Gold is hoarded. It’s estimated that 95 percent of all gold ever mined is still around.

The United States never lost a war or won a conference.

That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.

The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries.

I’ve been interested in Japan since the 1930s, when I read about Japan’s vicious crimes in Manchuria and China.

It takes a long time to bring the past up to the present.

Every time there has been an effort by the Haitian people to overcome the misery and poverty that comes from 200 years of bitter attacks, really bitter, the U.S. steps in and blocks it.

I feel like I’m too busy writing history to read it.

NATO has been a thread throughout my life.

People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.

Significant anniversaries are solemnly commemorated – Japan’s attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, for example.

The first democratic revolution was England in the 1640s.

The greatest tragedy in mankind’s entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.

Treachery has existed as long as there’s been warfare, and there’s always been a few people that you couldn’t trust.

No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.

Madam President, speaking here in Dublin Castle it is impossible to ignore the weight of history, as it was yesterday when you and I laid wreaths at the Garden of Remembrance.

I don’t think we handled the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad as well as we might have. But that’s now history.

Oceania was at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia.

I think the FBI is the premier law enforcement agency in all of human history.

We no longer think of chairs as technology; we just think of them as chairs. But there was a time when we hadn’t worked out how many legs chairs should have, how tall they should be, and they would often ‚crash‘ when we tried to use them.

Latin America has much richer resources. You’d expect it to be far more advanced than East Asia, but it had the disadvantage of being under imperialist wings.

Auschwitz stands as a tragic reminder of the terrible potential man has for violence and inhumanity.

All History is current; all injustice continues on some level, somewhere in the world.

For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.

Blood alone moves the wheels of history.

I became a Republican in 1951, the first year I could vote.

The true history of my administration will be written 50 years from now, and you and I will not be around to see it.

We are asking the nations of Europe between whom rivers of blood have flowed to forget the feuds of a thousand years.

If you look at the history of Notre Dame, if you hire a coach who’s been successful at another college program, they’re going to be ultra successful at Notre Dame because the talent will always be there.

How fortunate I was to be alive and a lawyer when, for the first time in United States history, it became possible to urge, successfully, before legislatures and courts, the equal-citizenship stature of women and men as a fundamental constitutional principle.

Things have never been more like the way they are today in history.

Even in high school I was very interested in history – why people do the things they do. As a kid I spent a lot of time trying to relate the past to the present.

In history people dressed much better than we do today.

We should not look down on our first ancestors.

The view of Jerusalem is the history of the world; it is more, it is the history of earth and of heaven.

The very word ‚secrecy‘ is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.

The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. To this type belong many lunatics and most of the great men of history.

The entering class I joined in 1956 included just nine women, up from five in the then second-year class, and only one African American. All professors, in those now-ancient days, were of the same race and sex.

If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.

In the long term we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars.

I was an Eisenhower Republican when I started out at 21 because he promised to get us out of the Korean War.

History shows us that in times of people feeling like they are in need of some sort of rebellion or protests, the artists rise because the poetry we create about pain and its relationship to culture in the world begins to soothe and heal people who are feeling confused or afraid.

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

Unlike Europe, China can’t be intimidated. Europe backs down if the United States looks at it the wrong way. But China, they’ve been there for 3,000 years and are paying no attention to the barbarians and don’t see any need to.

If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America.

A kingdom founded on injustice never lasts.

The solutions to our problems are and always will be based upon universal, timeless, self-evident principles common to every enduring, prospering society throughout history.

History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.

If atomic bombs are to be added as new weapons to the arsenals of a warring world, or to the arsenals of nations preparing for war, then the time will come when mankind will curse the names of Los Alamos and of Hiroshima.

Don’t gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver or gold.

The reason why I wear gold – I wear gold for three reasons. One, when Jesus was born, three wise men came from the east: one brought frankincense, one brought myrrh, the other one brought gold. The second reason I wear gold is I can afford it. The third reason I wear it, it’s symbolic of my African heritage.

For 2,500 years, India has never invaded anybody.

The people of Egypt are an intelligent people with a glorious history who left their mark on civilization.