Elias Canetti Quotes

History can tell us what happened in the past. But it cannot assert that it must happen again in the future.

Whatever can be noted historically can be found within history.

To study history means submitting to chaos and nevertheless retaining faith in order and meaning.

Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter. This is what makes the trade of historian so attractive.

In analyzing history do not be too profound, for often the causes are quite superficial.

Even historians with knowledge of the event, and with the materials before them on which to form a judgment, see but little way into the causes and consequences of the great events in human history.

History is not just a story related by a fool.

History is nothing but assisted and recorded memory. It might almost be said to be no science at all

The dignity of history consists in reciting events with truth and accuracy, and in presenting human agents and their actions in an interesting and instructive form. The first element in history, therefore, is truthfulness; and this truthfulness must be displayed in a concrete form.

I write to learn the flow of history.

History is a string full of knots, the best you can do is admire it, and maybe tie it up a bit more. History is a hammock for swinging and a game for playing.

I have been always fascinated and seduced by history, which I think is very close, very close to literature.

Today, I don't believe in destiny. But I do believe in history...There's nothing more powerful than history.

History is an illogical record. It hinges on nothing. It is a story that changes, and has accidents, and recovers with scars.

I've always loved history and history is collage, it is a juxtaposition of the good and the bad and the strange, and how you place those sentences together changes the whole mood of a history.

History is a big word... History is not the sort of animal you can domesticate.

To history has been assigned the office of judging the past, of instructing the present for the benefit of future ages. To such high offices this work does not aspire. It wants only to show what actually [essentially?] happened (wie es eigentlich gewesen).

History, contrary to popular theories, is kings and dates and battles.

History, as an entirety, could only exist in the eyes of an observer outside it and outside the world. History only exists, in the final analysis, for God.

When I was a kid, I thought history was the most boring subject of all. I shouldn't blame my teachers; I should blame me, but I'll blame them.

Not all that is presented to us as history has really happened; and what really happened did not actually happen the way it is presented to us; moreover, what really happened is only a small part of all that happened. Everything in history remains uncertain, the largest events as well as the smallest occurrence.

People tend to forget that the word "history" contains the word "story".

History after all is the true poetry.

History, as the study of the past, makes the coherence of what happened comprehensible by reducing events to a dramatic pattern and seeming them in a simple form.

From the very beginning, history wasn't content simply to be nostalgic fairytales; it wanted to make you think.