M. H. Abrams Quotes
When I was a graduate student, the leading spirits at Harvard were interested in the history of ideas.
Quotes to Explore
-
History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.
-
In life, a lot of great ideas sound insane or absurd at first.
-
If you love things or ideas or people that contradict each other, you have to be prepared to fight for every square inch of intellectual real estate you occupy.
-
I think that every so-called history book and film biography should be prefaced by the statement that what follows is the author's rendition of events and circumstances.
-
I believe that we must maintain pride in the knowledge that the actions we take, based on our own decisions and choices as individuals, link directly to the magnificent challenge of transforming human history.
-
Creativity is generating ideas that are novel and useful. I define originals as people who go beyond dreaming up the ideas and take initiative to make their visions a reality.
-
The history of liberty has largely been the history of the observance of procedural safeguards.
-
Radical thought has inspired many of the great political and social reform movements in American history, from ending slavery to establishing the minimum wage.
-
History is the heavy traffic that prevents us from crossing the road. We wait, more or less patiently, for it to pause, so that we can get to the liquor store or the laundromat or the burger bar.
-
When historians of early America turned from the pursuit of past politics, they devised a category known in the academy as 'social and intellectual history.' In it, they stuffed nearly everything except politics on the assumption, which the anthropologists assured them was correct, that it would all fit together. Somehow it did not.
-
My company Independent Ideas worked with Gucci on a special edition Fiat 500.
-
Scientists and academics in particular focus on detail and the minutiae. When they talk to each other, they usually don't focus on the broad ideas; they don't focus on social interconnectedness. They focus on the task that they're doing.
-
Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.
-
When you read the Bible, you are reading the Holy Spirit and not history books. When you read history books, you are reading about events, but the Bible is not an event. So, when you are reading the Holy Spirit, you are supposed to be carried along by it.
-
Helplessness induces hopelessness, and history attests that loss of hope and not loss of lives is what decides the issue of war.
-
History is more interesting than most people think.
-
The subject matter is very tricky. It's about the Munich massacre and what Mossad did afterwards with the assassination squads. I think it's a turning point in history, especially for the Palestinians.
-
I never hated hip-hop. It became the new rock and roll. It became the biggest thing that Africans have ever done in the history of the Americas. Hip-hop put more black Americans on than anything before it. It fed more people. It allowed them to diversify into clothing lines and billion-dollar headphone companies.
-
I was raised to volunteer: nursing homes, clinics, church nurseries, school, everywhere that could use help. It's such an intrinsic part of me, to use my life to help improve the quality of others.
-
I'm used to living in a disassociated universe.
-
Some people's personalities are so compelling that they command attention.
-
Part of American leadership is making sure that we're doing nation building here at home. That will help us maintain the kind of American leadership that we need.
-
When I was a graduate student, the leading spirits at Harvard were interested in the history of ideas.
