“We have met the enemy and they are ours.”
Oliver Hazard Perry
VictoryWar
History Quotes
200 FAMOUS QUOTES · HISTORY
History Quotes
Read the best history quotes on the past, memory and lessons for the future from Cicero, Herodotus, Thucydides, Kalhana, Ibn Khaldun, Lincoln, Nehru and more.
“The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”
Sir Edward Grey
World War OneEurope
“I believe it is peace for our time.”
Neville Chamberlain
PeaceWorld War Two
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
World War TwoFamous Speeches
“I came through and I shall return.”
Douglas MacArthur
DeterminationWorld War Two
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
PlanningLeadership
“Ich bin ein Berliner. (I am a Berliner.)”
John F. Kennedy
Cold WarFamous Speeches
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
Ronald Reagan
Cold WarFreedom
“How unlucky is Zafar! For his burial, not even two yards of land could be found in the land of his beloved.”
Bahadur Shah Zafar
IndiaExile
“Enjoy life, Babur, for the world will not come again.”
Babur
Living FullyIndia
“If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this.”
Amir Khusrau
KashmirBeauty
“When all other means have failed, it is righteous to draw the sword.”
Guru Gobind Singh
JusticeCourage
“Better than the entire world is our Hindustan.”
Muhammad Iqbal
IndiaPatriotism
“Vande Mataram. (I bow to thee, Mother.)”
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
IndiaFreedom Struggle
“Inquilab Zindabad. (Long live the revolution!)”
Hasrat Mohani (popularised by Bhagat Singh)
IndiaRevolution
“Dilli Chalo. (On to Delhi!)”
Subhas Chandra Bose
IndiaFreedom Struggle
“Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan. (Hail the soldier, hail the farmer.)”
Lal Bahadur Shastri
IndiaFarmers
“History is past politics, and politics is present history.”
Edward Augustus Freeman
PoliticsHistorians
“Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”
The Bible (1 Samuel 7:12)
GratitudeRemembrance
“Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.”
The Bible (Exodus 1:8)
ForgettingPower
“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.”
The Bible (Psalm 137:1)
ExileMemory
“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.”
The Bible (Psalm 137:5)
HomelandMemory
“MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.”
The Bible (Daniel 5:25)
Writing On The WallWarning
“Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.”
The Bible (Nehemiah 2:17)
RebuildingTeamwork
“And, behold, the half was not told me.”
The Bible (1 Kings 10:7)
WonderLegends