The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Abba Eban1 quote
History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. — Abba Eban · 1970Aldous Huxley1 quote
That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach. — Aldous Huxley · 1956Alexis de Tocqueville1 quote
At every step the natural light which illuminates their path grows dimmer and less secure; and that, in spite of all their efforts, they have as yet only discovered a small number of conflicting notions, on which the mind of man has been tossed about for thousands of years, without either laying a firmer grasp on truth, or finding novelty even in its errors. — Alexis de Tocqueville · 1840Calvin Coolidge1 quote
It is necessary to keep the former experiences of our country both at home and abroad continually before us, if we are to have any science of government. If we wish to erect new structures, we must have a definite knowledge of the old foundations. We must realize that human nature is about the most constant thing in the universe and that the essentials of human relationship do not change. We must frequently take our bearings from these fixed stars of our political firmament if we expect to hold a true course. If we examine carefully what we have done, we can determine the more accurately what we can do. — Calvin Coolidge · 1925Edmund Burke1 quote
People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors. — Edmund Burke · 1790George Santayana1 quote
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. — George Santayana · 1905James Madison1 quote
Experience is the oracle of truth; and where its responses are unequivocal, they ought to be conclusive and sacred. — James Madison · 1787John Quincy Adams1 quote
From the experience of the past we derive instructive lessons for the future. — John Quincy Adams · 1825Lucille Clifton1 quote
It would be nice to forget history, but we do it at our peril. — Lucille Clifton · 2007Michael Oakeshott1 quote
Neither the truth nor the character of history depend, in any way, upon its having some lesson to teach us. And if ever we persuade ourselves that the past has taught us something, we may be certain that it is not the historical past which has been our teacher. — Michael Oakeshott · 1933Michel de Montaigne1 quote
The diversity of human events offers us infinite examples in all sorts of forms. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Patrick Henry1 quote
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past. — Patrick Henry · 1775Petrarch1 quote
O you who hear within these scattered verses
The sound of sighs with which I fed my heart
In my first errant youthful days when I
In part was not the man I am today. — Petrarch · 1352Venerable Bede1 quote
If history records good things of good men, the thoughtful hearer is encouraged to imitate what is good. — Venerable Bede · 731William Hazlitt1 quote
By despising all that has preceded us, we teach others to despise ourselves. — William Hazlitt · 1827