History is an account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools.
Ambrose Bierce

History is a vision of God's creation on the move.
Arnold J. Toynbee

History is a vast early warning system.
Norman Cousins

History is a tool used by politicians to justify their intentions.
Ted Koppel

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.
John F. Kennedy

History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren't there.
George Santayana

History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.
Alexis de Tocqueville

History is a cyclic poem written by time upon the memories of man.
Percy Bysshe Shelley

Historian: an unsuccessful novelist.
H. L. Mencken