"History is only the pattern of silken..." - Quote by Voltaire
History is only the pattern of silken slippers descending the stairs to the thunder of hobnailed boots climbing upward from below.
More by Voltaire
“Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”
“In every province, the chief occupations, in order of importance, are lovemaking, malicious gossip, and talking nonsense.”
“The multiplicity of facts and writings is become so great that every thing must soon be reduced to extracts and dictionaries.”
More on History
“From the totalitarian point of view, history is something to be created rather than learned.”
“If man is reduced to being nothing but a character in history, he has no other choice but to subside into the sound and fury of acompletely irrational history or to endow history with the form of human reason.”
“Historically - when you look at how America has evolved, typically we make progress on race relations in fits and starts. We make some progress, and then there's maybe some slippage.”
More on Social Change
“I want to see young people in America feel the spirit of the 1960s and find a way to get in the way. To find a way to get in trouble. Good trouble, necessary trouble.”
“Revolutions have never lightened the burden of tyranny; they have only shifted it to another shoulder.”
“A revolution is bloody, but America is in a unique position. She's the only country in history in a position actually to become involved in a bloodless revolution. The Russian revolution was bloody, Chinese revolution was bloody, French revolution was bloody, Cuban revolution was bloody, and there was nothing more bloody then the American Revolution. But today this country can become involved in a revolution that won't take bloodshed. All she's got to do is give the black man in this country everything that's due him, everything.”