One makes mistakes; that is life. But it is never a mistake to have loved.
Romain RollandRead
History furnishes to politics all the arguments that it needs, for the chosen cause.
Interpretation
What this quote means
History provides the necessary justification and arguments for political actions based on the chosen cause.
This quote by Romain Rolland emphasizes the idea that political leaders and movements often rely on historical precedents and narratives to validate their decisions and actions. History can be selectively interpreted to support a particular political agenda, suggesting that political arguments are not solely based on present circumstances but are deeply influenced by past events and interpretations.
Themes
HistoryPoliticsArgumentsCauseJustification
In practice
Example use cases
In a political debate, a candidate might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of understanding historical context.
More from Romain Rolland
All quotes →The greatest human ideal is the great cause of bringing together the thoughts of Europe and Asia; the great soul of India will topple our world.
Romain RollandRead
Discussion is impossible with someone who claims not to seek the truth, but already to possess it.
Romain RollandRead
I find war detestable but those who praise it without participating in it even more so.
Romain RollandRead
Skepticism, riddling the faith of yesterday, prepared the way for the faith of tomorrow.
Romain RollandRead
Each man must learn his own ideal and try to accomplish it: that is a surer way of progress than to take the ideas of another.
Romain RollandRead
Similar quotes
Minorities within nation-states frayed by global capitalism are naturally more resentful of hollowed-out but still heavily centralised systems of political and economic domination.
Pankaj MishraRead
The misconception that aid falls straight into the hands of dictators largely stems from the Cold War era.
Bill GatesRead
Ankh-Morpork had dallied with many forms of government and had ended up with that form of democracy known as One Man, One Vote. The Patrician was the Man; he had the Vote.
Terry PratchettRead
Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.
James MadisonRead
All my games were political games; I was, like Joan of Arc, perpetually being burned at the stake.
Indira GandhiRead
I consider it…as subverting the fundamental and characteristic principle of the Government…and as bidding defiance to the sense in which the Constitution is known to have been proposed, advocated, and adopted. If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one.
James MadisonRead