It took a while for me to grasp that my colleagues believe I have made an impact on the history of cinema.

Part of what I enjoy about the theatre and acting is that sense of history.

I'll watch any show on the History Channel.

It is always self-defeating to pretend to a generation younger than your own it simply erases your own experience in history.

Irish fiction is full of secrets guilty pasts divided identities. It is no wonder that there is such a rich tradition of Gothic writing in a nation so haunted by history.

Introspection and preserved writings give us far more insight into the ways of past humans than we have into the ways of past dinosaurs. For that reason I'm optimistic that we can eventually arrive at convincing explanations for these broadest patterns of human history.

It is in Rousseau's writing above all that history begins to turn from upper-class honour to middle-class humanitarianism. Pity sympathy and compassion lie at the centre of his moral vision. Values associated with the feminine begin to infiltrate social existence as a whole rather than being confined to the domestic sphere.

History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.

The study of history and philosophy accompanied by some acquaintance with art and literature should be for lawyers and engineers as well as for those who study in arts faculties.

When great changes occur in history when great principles are involved as a rule the majority are wrong.