Throughout the human experience people have read history because they felt that it was a pleasure and that it was in some way instructive. The profession of professor of history has taken it in a very different direction.
Donald KaganRead
War has been more common than peace, and extended periods of peace have been rare in a world divided into multiple states
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the historical prevalence of war over peace among divided nations.
Donald Kagan highlights the unfortunate reality of human history where war is more frequent than peace, suggesting that sustained periods of tranquility are uncommon in a world fractured along political and territorial lines. This observation urges us to reflect on the nature of international relations and the challenges of achieving lasting peace amidst longstanding divisions.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of diplomacy.
Throughout the human experience people have read history because they felt that it was a pleasure and that it was in some way instructive. The profession of professor of history has taken it in a very different direction.
Without history we are the prisoners of the accident of where and when we were born.
I can see that you are a true historian because you really always ought to ask that question about anybody at a different place or a different time: What's the same and what's different?
Making mistakes is part of life. The only things I would feel ashamed of would be if I had said things I hadn't believed in order to get on. Some politicians do do that.
As long as you find something beautiful, good, and true to believe in and abide by, you have the equivalent of God in your life.
A man is as unhappy as he has convinced himself he is.
I was modest--they accused me of being crafty: I became secretive. I felt deeply good and evil--nobody caressed me, everybody offended me: I became rancorous. I was gloomy--other children were merry and talkative. I felt myself superior to them--but was considered inferior: I became envious. I was ready to love the whole world--none understood me: and I learned to hate.
A government or a party gets the people it deserves and sooner or later a people gets the government it deserves.
It is very hard to say the exact truth, even about your own immediate feelings β much harder than to say something fine about them which is not the exact truth.
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