J. B. Bury famous quotes

04-15-2025

It's a great historical joke that when the Spanish met the Aztecs, it was a blind date made in serve-you-right heaven. At the time, they were the two most unpleasant cultures in the entire world, and richly deserved each other. Still, the story of how stout Cortes blustered, bullied and bludgeoned his way to collapsing an entire empire with a handful of contagious hoodlums is astonishing.
If the English language had been properly organized ... then there would be a word which meant both 'he' and 'she', and I could write, 'If John or Mary comes heesh will want to play tennis', which would save a lot of trouble.
History is not a catalogue but...a convincing version of events.
All other forms of history - economic history, social history, psychological history, above all sociology - seem to me history with the history left out.
The male clerk with his quill pen and copper-plate handwriting had gone for good. The female short-hand typist took his place. It was a decisive moment in women's emancipation.
History is a great deal closer to poetry than is generally realised: in truth, I think, it is in essence the same.
History does not eliminate grievances. It lays them down like landmines.
Pearl Harbor is strenuously respectful of contemporary sensitivities, sometimes at the cost of accuracy.
Every age cuts and pastes history to suit its own purposes; art always has an ax to grind.
Every generation tailors history to its taste.

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