And in two centuries, human history became a parable of the weakness of human beings, the indifference of nature, the helplessness of man confronting Necessity.
To see him working on a digging was to see a man who had ceased to exist in the twentieth century, and who looked down on history like a golden eagle from some mountain peak.
History is composed of the smallest, often undetected mistakes.
History repeating itself, though in a more modest vein. Perhaps history has learned a lesson.
In fact, modern history begins, the age of defeat and neurosis.
People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.
If you are compelled to lie about one aspect of anybody's history, you must lie about it all.