Skip to content

I can see … only one safe rule for the historian: that he should recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the contingent and the unforeseen.

— H. A. L. Fisher A History of Europe (1934)

Another quote →

Topics

Fate

More quotes by H. A. L. Fisher

Purity of race does not exist. Europe is a continent of energetic mongrels.

A History of Europe (1934)

Politics is the art of human happiness.

A History of Europe (1934)

All political decisions are taken under great pressure, and if a treaty serves its turn for ten or twenty years, the wisdom of its framers is sufficiently confirmed.

Political Prophecies (1918)

It is easier for eight or nine elderly men to feel their way towards unanimity if they are not compelled to conduct their converging maneuvers under the microscopes and telescopes of the press, but are permitted to shuffle about a little in slippers.

An International Experiment (1921)

All H. A. L. Fisher quotes →

You may also like

One country, one constitution, one destiny.

Daniel Webster

We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us.

John Lewis

Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.

William Jennings Bryan

“Destiny,” said John. “The ghastliest word a man can speak.”

Poul Anderson The Corridors of Time (1965)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: H. A. L. Fisher (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.