Andrew Marr Quotes

The history of the past interests us only in so far as it illuminates the history of the present.

It would be well if, in studying the past, we could always bear in mind the problems of the present

History is not a blueprint for present practice.

I was very interested in history, but I also thought, you know, history is not that interesting sometimes, and it can feel a bit medicinal.

History is more or less bunk.

I do enjoy history. That's one of the things that I love about acting is you get a chance to really dive into history and develop a real personal opinion about it.

I think you can learn from history.

It may be enough to study history in all its nuance and ambiguity for its own sake. But there is no country free of the need to find new ways of reading the past as an inspiring way of thinking about everything else, including the present.

The problem of telling contemporary history is that your message gets outdated.

History must not be treated as something set off by itself.

History is too serious to be left to historians.

I don't think you learn specific lessons from history, but you do learn proportion.

Ancient histories provide windows to knowing current affairs.

One test of a great work of history is does it make you feel like you have lived through the period

History is what we would make of it.

The ‘facts' of history do not exist for any historian until he creates them, and into every fact that he creates some part of his individual experience must enter. But experience not only furnishes the elements for the image which the sources guide us in forming: it is also the final court of appeal in evaluating the sources themselves.

There is a difference between remembrance of history and reverence of it.

History is weirdly dismissed as not having anything to do with the present moment.

We knew that bringing a level of entertainment value to the subject of history was the key to our success.

We learn from history. That's what it's all about.

History needs distance, perspective. Facts and events which are too well attested cease, in some sort, to be malleable.

All history must be mobilized if one would understand the present.

For some stories, it's easy. The moral of 'The Three Bears,' for instance, is "Never break into someone else's house.' The moral of 'Snow White' is 'Never eat apples.' The moral of World War I is 'Never assassinate Archduke Ferdinand.

Learning history is easy; learning its lessons seems almost impossibly difficult.

If history is really relevant in today's world, the proposition doesn't command much respect. Perhaps the past is a different country, but if so no one much wants to travel there.