“The subject of history is the life of peoples and mankind.”

“History, that is, the unconscious, common, swarm life of mankind uses every moment of the life of kings as an instrument for its own ends”

“This history of culture will explain to us the motives, the conditions of life, and the thought of the writer or reformer. ”

“In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful.Read more at”

“They say that that's a difficult task, that nothing's amusing that isn't spiteful," he began with a smile. "But I'll try. Get me a subject. It all lies in the subject. If a subject's given me, it's easy to spin something round it. I often think that the celebrated talkers of the last century would have found it difficult to talk cleverly now. Everything clever is so stale… ”

“Kings are the slaves of history.”

“The social conditions of life can only be improved by people exercising self-restraint.”