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To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child. — Cicero · 46 BCHistory is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life, and brings us tidings of antiquity. — Cicero · 55 BCSo poetry is something more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention than history, for while poetry is concerned with universal truth, history treats of particular facts. — Aristotle · 335 BCThe absence of romance in my history will, I fear, detract somewhat from its interest. — Thucydides · 404 BC
People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors. — Edmund Burke · 1790
If history records good things of good men, the thoughtful hearer is encouraged to imitate what is good. — Venerable Bede · 731