historical quotes

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.

- Maya originally MayaJohnson Angelou
  On  Africa. In the NewYork Times,16  Apr.

HISTORICALOVERDOSING:To live in a period of time when too much seems to happen.

- Douglas Coupland
Generation X,'The Sun IsYour Enemy'.

HISTORICAL SLUMMING: the act of visiting locations such as diners, smokestack industrial sites, rural villageslocations where time appears to have been frozen many years backso as to experience relief when one returns back to'the present'.

- Douglas Coupland
Generation X,'Our Parents Had More'.

I am the very model of a modern Major-General, I've information vegetable, animal and mineral, I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical, From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical.

- Sir W(illiam) S(chwenck) Gilbert
   The Major-General's song, The Pirates of Penzance, act1.

It isnot oftenthat nationslearnfromthepastevenrarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it. For the lessons of historical experience, as of personal experience, are contingent. They teach the consequences ofcertain actions, but theycannot forcea recognition of comparable situations.

- HenryAlfred Kissinger
  A World Restored: Castlereagh, Metternich and the Restoration of Peace,1812^22.

   Thetechnologyofdecentralization can bethesaviouror assassin of contemporary and future society. The role of architects may be uncertain, but the role of architecture is not. In order to look forward society may sometimes haveto look back.This it should do inorder to learnfrom previous mistakes and oversights and to preclude similar eventualities in the future. This does not imply historical dependency, as some would assert. The symbiosis of architecture and technology should prevail, engendered by honesty and integrity. The task will not be easy.

- Ian Murphy
  'The impact of the environment: the shock of the new', in Ben Farmer and Hentie Louw (eds) Companion to Contemporary Architectural Thought (1993).

It is impossible to understand the economic system in which we are living if we try to interpret it as a rational scheme.It has to be understood as an awkward phase in a continuing process of historical development.

- Edwin Arlington Robinson
  Economics: an Awkward Corner.

Tryas one may to stress the cultural and historical role of the place†it still conveys one overwhelmingly powerful image to your average Englishman: the dirty weekend.

- Godfrey Smith
  Of Brighton.The English Companion.

The question of how to apply social theory to historical materials, as it is usually posed, is ridiculous.One does not apply theory to history; rather one uses history to develop theory.

- Arthur S Stinchcombe
  Theoretical Methods in Social History, p.1.

The importance of an historical event lies not in what happened but in what later generations believe to have happened.

- (Edward) Gough Whitlam
  Speech at Ballarat,Victoria, 3 Dec.