In third grade, I had to an oral report on the state of Oregon. I brought up Big Foot sightings, and I remember there was an argument about whether or not Big Foot was valid history. Ever since then I've been thinking about how subjective history is.
I devour history books. I love anything by Thomas B. Costain or George MacDonald Fraser. He writes magnificent history, and he also wrote the Flashman stories, which are irresistible.
On 9/11, 2001, the Navy stood at 316 ships. By 2008, after one of the great military buildups in American history, we were at 278 ships and had 49,000 fewer sailors.
Now, I believe that war is never inevitable until it starts, but there has been a great proclivity in human history, and including in recent history, for war.
History is laden with belligerent leaders using humanitarian rhetoric to mask geopolitical aims. History also shows how often ill-informed moralism has led to foreign entanglements that do more harm than good.
No history is mute. No matter how much they own it, break it, and lie about it, human history refuses to shut its mouth. Despite deafness and ignorance, the time that was continues to tick inside the time that is.
Richie Cusack: A lot of great-looking women in the world. I never met one made me wanna give up all the others.
Tom Stall: In this family, we do not solve problems by hitting people! Jack Stall: No, in this family, we shoot them! [Tom slaps Jack]
Tom Stall: [about Jack beating up Bobby] What the hell were you thinking? Jack Stall: I wasn't thinking. Tom Stall: Obviously not.
Bob Sweeney: This racist propaganda, this "Mein Kampf" psychobabble; he learned this nonsense, Murray, and he can unlearn it too. I will not give up on this child yet.
Derek Vinyard: One in every three black males is in some phase of the correctional system. Is that a coincidence or do these people have, you know, like a racial commitment to crime?
History doesn't remember gardens. … You forgot the wise administrators, those who kept the peace, those who brought prosperity. You needn’t feel embarrassed, though. So did history.
Aristotle may be regarded as the cultural barometer of Western history. Whenever his influence dominated the scene, it paved the way for one of history's brilliant eras; whenever it fell, so did mankind.
My point is, or should be, simple: history happened. The object is not to undo it, distort it, or to make it fit our present political attitudes. The object of history, which each generation properly interprets anew, is to understand what happened an...
English kings married their cousins and so their kids were as sharp as clubs.
It must never be forgotten that the general standard of learning and culture of a nation has a large part in determining its law and polity.
For the record, I would like to point out that it is NOT being obsessive to memorize a boy's schedule so that you can accidentally bump into him. It is called being efficient.
And yes, when he kisses you, the rest of the world disappears and your brain shuts off and all you can feel are his lips and nothing else matters.
You have a history of starving yourself," he says gently. I lift my head. I meet his gaze. "I have a history that I don't like to talk about.
History as well as life itself is complicated -- neither life nor history is an enterprise for those who seek simplicity and consistency.
For is there any practice less selfish, any labor less alienated, any time less wasted, than preparing something delicious and nourishing for people you love?
