To be on the wrong side of history is sometimes fatal; to be in its way always is.
Remembering
The obscurest epoch is today.
—Stevenson
The makers of history know too little of how it will turn out, and the writers know too much.
History does not swim left; it is pushed, by the many little helpers on its right side.
The great age is now, and has nearly always been now.
The first time is the farce: the repetition is the tragedy.
Professing communism never saved a kulak, and professing Nazism never saved a Jew. Only the religious fanatics are that sporting.
Pas d’ennemi à gauche eventually begets pas d’ennemi à droite.
At the beginning you go to the gulag for criticizing Stalin; toward the end for being first, when his name is mentioned, to stop applauding.
It is the lies we tell about history that we are most apt to remember.
In lieu of explanation history offers only more detail.