America was discovered accidentally by a great seaman who was looking for something else; when discovered it was not wanted; and most of the explorat….

The same contingencies of time and space that force a statesman or soldier to make decisions, impel the historian, though with less urgency, to make ….

Skepticism is an important historical tool. It is the starting point of all revision of hitherto accepted history..

He [Columbus] enjoyed long stretches of pure delight such as only a seaman may know, and moments of high, proud exultation that only a discoverer can….

If the European discovery had been delayed for a century or two, it is possible that the Aztec in Mexico or the Iroquois in North America would have ….

Historical methodology, as I see it, is a product of common sense applied to circumstances..

Military and absolutist regimes are undoubtedly well fitted to get the jump on an unsuspecting or unprepared enemy; but the history of modern warfare….

No big modern war has been won without preponderant sea power; and, conversely, very few rebellions of maritime provinces have succeeded without acqu….

Dream dreams and write them aye, but live them first..

But sea power has never led to despotism. The nations that have enjoyed sea power even for a brief period-Athens, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Engla….

So I have cultivated the vast garden of human experience which is history, without troubling myself overmuch about laws, essential first causes, or h….

The freedmen were not really free in 1865, nor are most of their descendants really free in 1965. Slavery was but one aspect of a race and color prob….

With honesty of purpose, balance, a respect for tradition, courage, and, above all, a philosophy of life, any young person who embraces the historica….

Intellectual honesty is the quality that the public in free countries always has expected of historians; much more than that it does not expect, nor ….

A tough but nervous, tenacious but restless race [the Yankees]; materially ambitious, yet prone to introspection, and subject to waves of religious e….

America was named after a man who discovered no part of the New World. History is like that, very chancy..

One learns more from defeat than from victory..

The cruel policy initiated by Columbus and pursued by his successors resulted in complete genocide..

Make no mistake; the American Revolution was not fought to obtain freedom, but to preserve the liberties that Americans already had as colonials. Ind….

An historian should yield himself to his subject, become immersed in the place and period of his choice, standing apart from it now and then for a fr….

If the American Revolution had produced nothing but the Declaration of Independence, it would have been worthwhile..