“التاريخ مسرحية واحدة يؤديها ممثلون مختلفون”
“For most Americans, our most precious possession is citizenship in this amazing country.”
“I can never do justice to the great feeling of amazement and encouragement I felt when, perhaps for the first time in American history, white citizens of a Southern state banded together to come to Selma and show their indignation about the injustices against the African-Americans.”
“Historians of technology have asked why no industrial revolution developed in antiquity. The simple answer seems to be that there was no need, that contemporary modes of production and the slave-based economy of the day satisfactorily maintained the status quo. The capitalist idea of profit as a desirable end to pursue was completely foreign to the contemporary mentality. So, too, was the idea that technology on a large scale could or should be harnessed to those ends. An industrial revolution was literally unthinkable in antiquity.”
“Facts do not become historical evidence until someone thinks up something for them to prove or disprove.”
“He found his irritation that the American memory could be short.”
“What a major mistake, having rejected pretty much all of the great talented female artists that have lived throughout the ages, art history is left incomplete. The validity of the written art history is as absent as those women left out.”
“Lịch sử không phải là những dối trá của kẻ chiến thắng, như tôi từng liến thoắng bảo đảm với thầy Joe Hunt Già ; giờ thì tôi đã biết điều đó rồi. Đúng hơn thì nó là ký ức của những kẻ sống sót, mà phần lớn chẳng chiến thắng cũng không chiến bại.”
“Poppy took a deep, appreciative breath. “How bracing,” she said. “I wonder what makes the country air smell so different?” “It could be the pig farm we just passed,” Leo muttered. Beatrix, who had been reading from a pamphlet describing the south of England, said cheerfully, “Hampshire is known for its exceptional pigs. They’re fed on acorns and beechnut mast from the forest, and it makes the bacon quite lovely. And there’s an annual sausage competition!” He gave her a sour look. “Splendid. I certainly hope we haven’t missed it.” Win, who had been reading from a thick tome about Hampshire and its environs, volunteered, “The history of Ramsay House is impressive.” “Our house is in a history book?” Beatrix asked in delight. “It’s only a small paragraph,” Win said from behind the book, “but yes, Ramsay House is mentioned. Of course, it’s nothing compared to our neighbor, the Earl of Westcliff, whose estate features one of the finest country homes in England. It dwarfs ours by comparison. And the earl’s family has been in residence for nearly five hundred years.” “He must be awfully old, then,” Poppy commented, straight-faced. Beatrix snickered. “Go on, Win.” “‘Ramsay House,’” Win read aloud, “‘stands in a small park populated with stately oaks and beeches, coverts of bracken, and surrounds of deer-cropped turf. Originally an Elizabethan manor house completed in 1594, the building boasts of many long galleries representative of the period. Alterations and additions to the house have resulted in the grafting of a Jacobean ballroom and a Georgian wing.’” “We have a ballroom!” Poppy exclaimed. “We have deer!” Beatrix said gleefully. Leo settled deeper into his corner. “God, I hope we have a privy.”
“На перешийку цього півострова розташоване злиденне місто без мурів, оточене лише наполовину заповненим [водою] ровом завширшки 20, а завглибшки 6-7 стіп; його ж обнесено жалюгідним валом висотою у 6-7, а шириною — у якихось 15 стіп. Місто лежить за 300 кроків від східного берега; у ньому є кам яний замок, замкнутий в інший замок, який його оточує. Відстань від цього міста до західного берега — півльє вздовж рову, який тягнеться до моря. У згаданому місті не може бути більш як 400 вогнищ 205. Татари називають його Ор [Or] 206, а поляки — Перекоп [Perecop], тобто нашою мовою — «перекопана земля». Ось чому географи називають цю частину Татарії Tartaria Perecopensis.”
“When blondes have more fun, do they know it?”
“It’s important that young people know about the struggles we faced to get to the point we are today. Only then will they appreciate the hard-won freedom of blacks in this country.”
“[We re] going to change the world. One day they ll write about us. You ll see.”
“But history does repeat itself; that is the comedy and the crime of history. Men learn nothing. Times change. Scenes change. Names change. But passions are the same.”
“Conspiracy theory, like causality, works fantastically well as an explanatory model but only if you use it backwards. The fact that we cannot predict much about tomorrow strongly indicates that most of the explanations we develop about how something happened yesterday have (like history in general) a high bullshit content.”
“The levelling of the European man is the great process which cannot be obstructed; it should even be accelerated. The necessity of cleaving gulfs, distance, order of rank, is therefore imperative —not the necessity of retarding this process. This homogenizing species requires justification as soon as it is attained: its justification is that it lies in serving a higher and sovereign race which stands upon the former and can raise itself this task only by doing this. Not merely a race of masters whose sole task is to rule, but a race with its own sphere of life, with an overflow of energy for beauty, bravery, culture, and manners, even for the most abstract thought; a yea-saying race that may grant itself every great luxury —strong enough to have no need of the tyranny of the virtue-imperative, rich enough to have no need of economy or pedantry; beyond good and evil; a hothouse for rare and exceptional plants.”
“Nada es tan desalentador como un esclavo satisfecho.”