history Quotes

I am not a Catholic; but I consider the Christian idea, which has its roots in Greek thought and in the course of the centuries has nourished all of our European civilization, as something that one cannot renounce without becoming degraded.

I'm German in my mind, but from a Germany that doesn't exist any more.

It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.

Newspapers are the second hand of history. This hand, however, is usually not only of inferior metal to the other hands, it also seldom works properly.

Laws are silent in time of war.

Every old poem is sacred.

Believe me, that was a happy age, before the days of architects, before the days of builders.

Like almost everything else from the West, the Romantic Revolution arrived late in Russia.

The printed word is no longer as in demand as when I was of the age of pupils or even at the age of the teachers teaching them.

When Auden said his poetry didn't save one Jew from the gas chamber, he'd said it all.