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Category History

Featured Quote in History

Civilization, as we know it, is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbour.
Arnold J. Toynbee Civilization on Trial · 1948

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Prehistory (0) Ancient history (2) Medieval history (2) Early modern history (0) Modern history (5) Contemporary history (0)

History Quotes

“Civilization, as we know it, is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbour.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · Civilization on Trial, 1948 · Primary source

“I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

John F. Kennedy · Remarks at a Dinner Honoring Nobel Prize Winners of the Western Hemisphere, 1962 · Primary source

“Nothing fails like success.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · A Study of History, 1934-1961 · Primary source

“Now civilizations, I believe, come to birth and proceed to grow by successfully responding to successive challenges. They break down and go to pieces if and when a challenge confronts them which they fail to meet.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · Civilization on Trial, 1948 · Primary source

“History, in the objective meaning of the word, is the process of change; in the subjective meaning, it is the study of how and why one situation changes into another.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · Change and Habit, 1966 · Primary source

“Of the twenty or so civilizations known to modern Western historians, all except our own appear to be dead or moribund, and, when we diagnose each case, in extremis or post mortem, we invariably find that the cause of death has been either War or Class or some, combination of the two.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · Civilization on Trial, 1948 · Primary source

“The contact of civilisations has always been, and will always continue to be, a ruling factor in human progress and failure.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · The Western Question in Greece and Turkey, 1922 · Primary source

“More often geographical expansion is a concomitant of real decline and coincides with a ‘time of troubles’ or a universal state—both of them stages of decline and disintegration. The reason is not far to seek. Times of trouble produce militarism, which is a perversion of the human spirit into channels of mutual destruction, and the most successful militarist becomes, as a rule, the founder of a universal state. Geographical expansion is a by-product of this militarism, in interludes when the mighty men of valour turn aside from their assaults upon their rivals within their own society to deliver assaults upon neighbouring societies.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · A Study of History, 1934-1961 · Primary source

“Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · No reliable source

“History is moving pretty quickly these days, and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts.”

Ian Fleming · Casino Royale, 1953 · Primary source

“And wherever men are fighting against barbarism, tyranny, and massacre, for freedom, law, and honour, let them remember that the fame of their deeds, even though they themselves be exterminated, may perhaps be celebrated as long as the world rolls round. Let us then declare that King Arthur and his noble knights, guarding the Sacred Flame of Christianity and the theme of a world order, sustained by valour, physical strength, and good horses and armour, slaughtered innumerable hosts of foul barbarians and set decent folk an example for all time.”

Winston Churchill · A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, 1956-1958 · Primary source

“The 1930’s taught us a clear lesson: aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged ultimately leads to war.”

John F. Kennedy · Address During The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 · Primary source

“Rome seemed as powerful and stable as ever. But below the surface the foundations were cracking, and through the fissures new ideas and new institutions were thrusting themselves. The cities are everywhere in decline; trade, industry, and agriculture bend under the weight of taxation. Communications are less safe, and some provinces are infested with marauders, peasants who can no longer earn a living on the land.”

Winston Churchill · A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, 1956-1958 · Primary source

“Like other systems in decay, the Roman Empire continued to function for several generations after its vitality was sapped. For nearly a hundred years our Island was one of the scenes of conflict between a dying civilisation and lusty, famishing barbarism.”

Winston Churchill · A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, 1956-1958 · Primary source

“Thus ended the great American Civil War, which must upon the whole be considered the noblest and least avoidable of all the great mass-conflicts of which till then there was record.”

Winston Churchill · A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, 1956-1958 · Primary source

“Failure cuts deepter memories than success.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · The Western Question in Greece and Turkey, 1922 · Primary source

“When we reflect upon the brutal vices of these salt-water bandits, pirates as shameful as any whom the sea has borne, or recoil from their villainous destruction and cruel deeds, we must also remember the discipline, the fortitude, the comradeship and martial virtues which made them at this period beyond all challenge the most formidable and daring race in the world.”

Winston Churchill · A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, 1956-1958 · Primary source

“The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776.”

Abraham Lincoln · First Inaugural Address, 1861 · Primary source

“On the whole, in imperialism nothing fails like success.”

William Ralph Inge · Outspoken Essays, 1919+1922 · Primary source

”History is a graveyard of aristocracies.”

Vilfredo Pareto · The Mind and Society, 1916 · Primary source

“I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels.”

Albert Einstein · Ideas and Opinions , 1954 · Primary source

“Truth was the only daughter of Time.”

Leonardo da Vinci · The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1888 · Primary source

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

Abraham Lincoln · The Gettysburg Address, 1863 · Primary source

“For four hundred years the foreign policy of England has been to oppose the strongest, most aggressive, most dominating Power on the Continent.”

Winston Churchill · The Second World War, 1948-1953 · Primary source

“The golden age never was the present age.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“For what Pericles said to the Athenians has long been true of this commonwealth: ’We do not imitate—for we are a model to others.’”

John F. Kennedy · The City Upon a Hill Speech, 1961 · Primary source

“I don’t drink tea. I hate it. It’s mud. Moreover it’s one of the main reasons for the downfall of the British Empire.”

Ian Fleming · Goldfinger, 1959 · Primary source

“Perhaps wars weren’t won any more. Maybe they went on forever. Maybe it was another Hundred Years’ War.”

Ernest Hemingway · A Farewell to Arms, 1929 · Primary source

“Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is Ich bin ein Berliner.”

John F. Kennedy · Ich bin ein Berliner speech, 1963 · Primary source

“We may now picture this great Fleet, with its flotillas and cruisers, steaming slowly out of Portland Harbour, squadron by squadron, scores of gigantic castles of steel wending their way across the misty, shining sea, like giants bowed in anxious thought. We may picture them again as darkness fell, eighteen miles of warships running at high speed and in absolute blackness through the Narrow Straits, bearing with them into the broad waters of the North the safeguard of considerable affairs […] The king’s ships were at sea.”

Winston Churchill · The World Crisis, 1923-1931 · Primary source

“Today is yesterday’s pupil.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.”

John F. Kennedy · Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 · Primary source

“We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom—symbolizing an end as well as a beginning—signifying renewal as well as change.”

John F. Kennedy · Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 · Primary source

“Development of Western science is based on two great achievements: the invention of the formal logical system (in Euclidean geometry) by the Greek philosophers, and the discovery of the possibility of finding out causal relationships by systematic experiment (Renaissance).”

Albert Einstein · Letter to J.S. Switzer, 1953 · Primary source

“Intellectual individualism and scientific eras emerged simultaneously in history and have remained inseparable ever since.”

Albert Einstein · Ideas and Opinions , 1954 · Primary source

“Ours is the commencement of a flying age, and I am happy to have popped into existence at a period so interesting.”

Amelia Earhart · 20 Hrs. 40 Min., 1928 · Primary source

“The absence of romance in my history will, I fear, detract somewhat from its interest; but if it be judged useful by those inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the interpretation of the future, which in the course of human things must resemble if it does not reflect it, I shall be content. In fine, I have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time.”

Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War, 431 BC · Primary source

“So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand.”

Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War, 431 BC · Primary source

“The history of the development of technique, like the history of geographical expansion, has failed to provide us with a criterion of the growth of civilizations, but it does reveal a principle by which technical progress is governed, which may be described as a law of progressive simplification. The ponderous and bulky steam-engine with its elaborate ‘permanent way’ is replaced by the neat and handy internal-combustion engine which can take to the roads with the speed of a railway train and almost all the freedom of action of a pedestrian. Telegraphy with wires is replaced by telegraphy without wires. The incredibly complicated scripts of the Sinic and Egyptiac societies are replaced by the neat and handy Latin Alphabet.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · A Study of History, 1934-1961 · Primary source

“Of our political revolution of ’76, we all are justly proud. It has given us a degree of political freedom, far exceeding that of any other nation of the earth. In it the world has found a solution of the long mooted problem, as to the capability of man to govern himself. In it was the germ which has vegetated, and still is to grow and expand into the universal liberty of mankind.”

Abraham Lincoln · Temperance Address, 1842 · Primary source

“Now it is a law which hardly admits of exceptions, that aristocracies do not maintain their numbers. The ruling race rules itself out; nothing fails like success.”

William Ralph Inge · Outspoken Essays, 1919+1922 · Primary source

Explore the category

History

6 subcategories · 5 authors · 9 works · 81 themes · 177 tags
Authors
Winston Churchill British prime ministerJohn F. Kennedy President of the United StatesArnold J. Toynbee English historian
Works
A Study of History Arnold J. Toynbee · 1934-1961A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Winston Churchill · 1956-1958Casino Royale Ian Fleming · 1953
Themes
Renewal within continuityCivilisation as a processChange over permanence
Tags
Historical changeChallenge and responseCivilisational declineEvidence
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