No greater nor more affectionate honor can be conferred on an American than to have a public school named after read more

No greater nor more affectionate honor can be conferred on an American than to have a public school named after him.

The certainties of one age are the problems of the next.

The certainties of one age are the problems of the next.

The historian sees backward. In the end he also believes backward.

The historian sees backward. In the end he also believes backward.

It is not the literal past, the "facts" of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in read more

It is not the literal past, the "facts" of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language.

Most history is a record of the triumphs, disasters, and follies of top people. The black hole in it is read more

Most history is a record of the triumphs, disasters, and follies of top people. The black hole in it is the way of life of mute, inglorious men and women who make no nuisance of themselves in the world.

Wit is the lowest form of humor.

Wit is the lowest form of humor.

For historians ought to be precise, truthful, and quite unprejudiced, and neither interest nor fear, hatred nor affection, should cause read more

For historians ought to be precise, truthful, and quite unprejudiced, and neither interest nor fear, hatred nor affection, should cause them to swerve from the path of truth, whose mother is history, the rival of time, the depository of great actions, the witness of what is past, the example and instruction of the present, the monitor of the future.

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it and wiser than the one read more

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it and wiser than the one that comes after it.

History is written by the victors.

History is written by the victors.