Quotes from Writers and Poets
John Ruskin Laying Stone on Stone
Writer John Ruskin is perhaps best known for his treatises on politics and social history.
Voltaire on Ancient Tricks
From French writer Voltaire's voluminous correspondence, we have obtained a slew of aphorisms about just about anything, including the past.
Bulwer Lytton on the Aid of Archaeology to Historical Romance
Edward Bulwer-Lytton was a famously dreadful writer of historical romances, and, not-so-famously, the president of the British Archaeological Congress in the mid-19th century.
Domenica Macdonald on the Soft Life of Some Anthropologists
Domenica Macdonald is a fictional anthropologist, the creation of Alexander McCall Smith, in his 44 Scotland Street series, with a very specific viewpoint about her fellow scientists.
Kage Baker Imagines Flinders Petrie
Science fiction writer Kage Baker imagines a diatribe from William Flinders Petrie on what the work of his life is.
Von Igelfeld on German Archaeology
Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Iglefeld is the madly oblivious (and fictional) academic philologist and hero of several short stories by Alexander McCall Smith.
Douglas Adams on the Importance of Subsistence
An archaeology quote from Douglas Adams' classic Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, on the historical importance of a good diet.
Jane Austen (Catherine Morland) on Real Solemn History
From one of Jane Austen's masterpieces, 1803's Northanger Abbey, comes a quote on the past from little miss Catherine Morland.
J. G. Ballard on the Future's Suburb of the Soul
From an interview with science fiction writer and visionary J. G. Ballard, a quote on just how pessimistic he had become by 1982.
Charles Baudelaire on the Pleasures We Derive
This archaeological quote is from 19th century French writer Charles Baudelaire, describing the pleasure we derive from viewing the past.
Max Beerbohm on those Rare Memorable Moments
Writer and raconteur Max Beerbohm muses on how little of one's past is lodged in one's memory.
Ambrose Bierce Defines the Past
Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary is a very useful compedium of witty sayings, with a few chucked in about our past.
Ambrose Bierce Defines History
Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary is a source of great amusement, even nearly 100 years after its publication. Quite an achievement.
Octavia Butler on Letting the Past Go
From Octavia Butler's 1998 book Parable of the Talents, comes a quote from her book within a book, Earthseed: The Book of the Living, by Lauren Oya Olamina.
George Lord Byron on the Usefulness of the Past
George Gordon (Noel) Byron wrote a lot of poetry about the ruins he saw, but this little epigram is what sticks in my mind.
G.K. Chesterton on Unfinished Suburbs of the Past
The British writer G.K. Chesterton commenting on the state of the world in 1910.
Norman Cousins with an Alarming Metaphor
Writer Norman Cousins on what he believes the past is for.
Robertson Davies on Domestic Architecture
Novelist Robertson Davies wrote a very peculiar murder mystery called Murther and Walking Spirits, in which he comments on archaeologist tastes in houses.
Emily Dickinson on an Armed Past
American poet and lady of letters Emily Dickinson had a few choice words to say about the dangers of the past.
John Dryden on What is Past
British poet John Dryden, from Imitation of Horace.
A Classic Insult from Alexander Dumas (pere)
This insult is attributed to the erudite writer of the Count of Monte Cristo.
Finley Peter Dunne on Why the Past Looks Good
Finley Peter Dunne was an American journalist, wit and raconteur, not as well known as Will Rogers but of the same period and style. Here he take a whack at why the past looks so comforting.
T.S. Eliot on History's Cunning Passages
From T.S. Eliot's 1920 poem called Gerontion, comes Quote 159, on whispering ambitions of the past.
Ralph Waldo Emerson on Being Pinned by a Book
This quote is from the ever-active Ralph Waldo Emerson, from a lecture o the American Scholar.
Ralph Waldo Emerson on the Folly of Retrospection
Like all transcendentalists, Emerson was suspicious of people who spend too much looking deep into the past.
Ralph Waldo Emerson on Barbarous Societies
The transcendental poet and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson comments on the progress of modern society.
Maxim Gorky on the Carriages of the Past
In this attributed quote, Maxim Gorky denies the portability of the present.
John Guare on Amnesia and History
Playwright John Guare, from an interview, comments on the lack of interest in history.
Robert Heinlein on the Effects of Ignoring History
Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein collected witticisms of his character Lazarus Long in a book called "The Notebooks of Lazarus Long", which has a handful of quotes about the past.
Robert Heinlein on Human Capabilities
Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein had a lot to say about the human condition, particularly his character Lazarus Long.
Shirley Jackson on Why There's Always Been a Lottery
A literary quote from the short story called "The Lottery" written by Shirley Jackson in 1948 and familiar to every high school English student in America.
James Joyce (Stephen Dedalus) on History's Nightmares
A quote from James Joyce's Ulysses on how Stephen Dedalus looks on the past.
Sinclair Lewis on Authenticity
Sinclair Lewis' Arrowsmith is required reading for beginning scientists of all stripes.
Penelope Lively on Howling Landscapes
Writer Penelope Lively imagines what she might have been like, had she decided on a career in archaeology
Herman Melville on the Textbook of Tyrants
An appropriate quote from the writer of Moby Dick, concerning what lessons we might learn from the past.
William Least Heat Moon on the Lack of Yesterdays on the Road
William Least Heat Moon's Blue Highways was a song of the road for a generation.
Michael Ondaatje on Unsafely Settled Places
Writer Michael Ondaatje discusses the dangers of world travel.
George Orwell on Controlling the Past
1984 as a novel has a great deal to say to our 21st society; here's a quote appropriate for archaeologists.
George Orwell on Generational Conflicts
The British writer George Orwell knew all about conflicts between the old and the new.
Camille Paglia on Voyages to the Past
A quote from Camille Paglia from her 1999 article in the Wall Street Journal called "Mummy Dearest"
Ezra Pound on Kulchur
American poet and author Ezra Pound had an acerbic wit and little patience for fools.
Terry Pratchett (B. S. Johnson) on the Future of Architecture
Terry Pratchett's Bergholt Stuttley Johnson, on what buyers should consider about stock in architectural futures.
Adrienne Rich on Journeys into the Past
An archaeology quote from poet Adrienne Rich from her 1986 book Of Woman Born.
Carl Sandburg on the Qualities of the Past
American poet Carl Sandburg had many things to say about the past.
William Shakespeare on Prophesies
William Shakespeare's comment on what men can expect from the future comes from Henry IV, Part II.
Sir Philip Sidney on Why Poets are Better than Historians
The sixteenth century poet and critic Philip Sidney was clear about why his choice of professions was better than history.
Susan Sontag on Vanishing Beauty
The late writer Susan Sontag on what is surreal about the past.
Stephen Spender on Escaping the Hectoring of Youth
American poet Stephen Spender, about what turning 70 meant to him
John Steinbeck on the Literature of Science
American writer John Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez is one of the best pieces of science writing ever completed.
Paul Theroux (Allie Fox) on Evolution's Little Joke
Writer Paul Theroux's character Allie Fox from the Mosquito Coast rants about how evolution has played a dirty trick on him.
Henry David Thoreau on What to Do with Ambitious Boobies
The American writer Henry David Thoreau had little use for glorifying the wonders of the past, exemplified by this quote from Walden.
Henry David Thoreau on Unremarkable History
American essayist Henry David Thoreau was not a big fan of the adulation of history, as you can tell from many of his writings.
Mark Twain on the Investment of Science
Humorist Mark Twain was deeply skeptical of science and scientists--when the occasion called for it.
Voltaire on the Foundations of History
The French writer and philosopher Voltaire had many pertinent things to say about the past.
E.B. White on the Future of Reading
Writer and essayist E.B. White thought a lot about reading and writing, as can be seen from this quote from an essay published in the Second Tree from the Corner.
Walt Whitman on the Infinite Greatness of the Past
American poet of the nineteenth century, Walt Whitman was infinitely interested in the ancient past of the world.
Oscar Wilde on our Duty to History
Oscar Wilde's quotes are legion, so it's only fair that there be some on the past.
Oscar Wilde on Inalienable Privileges
Oscar Wilde was a critic and playwright of the 19th century, but his wit continues to inspire us more than a century after his death.
Kate Wilhelm on Living with the Past
Science fiction writer Kate Wilhelm often has characters with loads of wisdom to disperse to hapless heroes and heroines. Here is one of my favorite.