The Shortest History of Europe Quotes

“كانت عمليات الإعدام في أثينا سريعة، في المعتاد، لكن إعدام «سقراط» أُجل بسبب أعياد دينية. وكان يمكنه أن يهرب، وتمنت السلطات، بعض التمني، أن يفعل، ولكنه رفض هذا الخيار. لماذا التمادي في التمسك بالحياة، إذا لم أكن سأعيش للأبد؟ تساءل «سقراط». ليس الهدف أن تعيش، ولكن أن تعيش بشكل حسن. لقد عشت حياة طيبة تحت القوانين اليونانية، وأنا مستعد للقبول بجزائي. لقد استمر فيلسوفًا حتى النهاية. ولما نزعت الأغلال عنه، علق قائلًا: «ما أقرب الألم من السعادة».”
― John Hirst, ‫أوروبا: تاريخ وجيز‬

“The Romans were better than the Greeks at fighting. They were better than the Greeks at law, which they used to run their empire. They were better than the Greeks at engineering, which was useful both for fighting and running an empire. But in everything else they acknowledged that the Greeks were superior and slavishly copied them.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“The Enlightenment was not a revolutionary movement; it was not even a political movement. It was a collection of scholars, writers, artists and historians who believed that as reason and education spread, superstition and ignorance would fall away and people would cease to believe in such nonsense as miracles or kings ruling by God’s permission.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“European civilisation is unique because it is the only civilisation which has imposed itself on the rest of the world. It did this by conquest and settlement; by its economic power; by the power of its ideas; and because it had things that everyone else wanted. Today every country on earth uses the discoveries of science and the technologies that flow from it, and science was a European invention.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“When the Germans invaded the Roman Empire they did not intend to destroy it. They were coming for plunder, to get the best lands and to settle down and enjoy the good things of life. They were happy to acknowledge the emperor’s rule. But the trouble was that in the 400s so many Germans came, and took so much land, there was nothing left for the emperor to control. In effect the Roman Empire came to an end because there was nothing left to rule.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“وبعد ذلك، مع بداية القرن الثالث بعد ميلاد المسيح، أتت الموجة الأولى من الغزوات الجرمانية، والتي أوشكت على أن تسقط الإمبراطورية. وبعد مرور فترة الغزوات، أعيدت هيكلة الإمبراطورية بخطوط جديدة من قِبل اثنين من الأباطرة: «ديوكليسيان» و«قسطنطين». ولكي يحموا الإمبراطورية زادوا من حجم الجيش، وأعادوا تنظيمه، وضموا أعدادًا من الجرمانيين الذين استقروا داخل حدود الإمبراطورية. ولكي يقوموا بتمويل نفقات جيش أكبر، كان على الأباطرة رفع الضرائب.”
― John Hirst, ‫أوروبا: تاريخ وجيز‬

“Nationalism acted as a substitute for religion, giving individuals a place in an everlasting community. Not Christians in Christendom, but French in France, or Germans in Germany. There were anthems and flags, heroes and heroines, sacred moments and places, to secure attachment to this new faith.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“Hitler não se comoveu com a devastação que sua guerra tinha causado à Alemanha. Na visão do ditador, a culpa era do povo alemão, que tinha falhado com ele e não merecia sobreviver.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“إذا تم التساؤل عن كل شيء، فسيفقد الناس وجهتهم، لا يمكن العيش بالعقل وحده، يجب أن تكون هناك تقاليد، وعادات، ودين حتى يوجه الناس، ويجعل المجتمع ممكنًا.”
― John Hirst, ‫أوروبا: تاريخ وجيز‬

“تقسيم بولندا”
― John Hirst, ‫أوروبا: تاريخ وجيز‬

“عندما وصل النبلاء والفرسان الأوروبيون إلى الأراضي المقدسة في الحروب الصليبية، فوجئ المسلمون، الأكثر تحضرًا، بمدى فظاظة الأوروبيين وعدم ثقافتهم.”
― John Hirst, ‫أوروبا: تاريخ وجيز‬

“İngiltere'de Protestanlık özgürlükle daha sıkı ilintiliydi çünkü İngiltere'nin düşmanları
-Fransa ve İspanya'nın mutlakıyetçi kralları- Katolik'ti ve
parlamentoyu atlatmaya çalışan İngiliz kralları ya Katolik'ti
veya Katolikliğe gerekli sertliği göstermeyen krallar olarak
görülüyorlardı. Parlamentoyu muhafaza etmekle Protestan
inancını muhafaza etmek aynı ülkü haline geldi.”
― John Hirst, Kısa Avrupa Tarihi

“Not everything is the king’s was the foundation of European thinking about government. From the right to private property derives the notion of individual rights, which is a central part of the Western tradition. The notion that government must be limited arose because at the beginning government in fact was extremely limited.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“Historians are meant to be able to explain things but when they come up against the big things — why, for example, in these little city-states there were minds so logical, so agile, so penetrating — they have no convincing explanation.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“Newton, the great seventeenth-century scientist, and Einstein, the great twentieth-century scientist, both said you will only get close to a correct answer if your answer is simple.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“That underneath all this variety there must be something simple, regular, logical which explains it all. Something like geometry.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“اعترف الرومان بأن اليونانيين القدامى كانوا أفضل منهم، فنسخوا ما فعلوه واقتفوا آثارهم. فتجد النخبة من الرومان يتحدثون اليونانية واللاتينية؛ لغة الرومان، ويرسلون أبناءهم إلى أثينا للدراسة في جامعاتها، ويتخذون عبيدًا يونانيين يستأجرونهم لتعليم أطفالهم في البيوت.”
― جون هيرست, ‫أوروبا: تاريخ وجيز‬

“Our modern interest and respect for culture begins at this point, when intellectuals first began collecting folk culture. The answer to the prattle about reason by arrogant French intellectuals was to put on your boots and go hiking. Go to the German people, go to the peasants, record their stories and songs: that is where you will find true enlightenment. The message of Romanticism was that civilisation is artificial; that it cramps and constrains us. It is within traditional culture that life is fully lived.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“The Greek view was that the world is simple, logical and mathematical. The Christian view was that the world is evil, and Christ alone saves. The German warriors’ view was that fighting is fun.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“Not everything is the king's'' was the foundation of European thinking about government.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“Because the power of kings started from such a weak position there were some things that they were never able to threaten. Private property became sacrosanct; the nobles had turned land held on condition into private property. This always put a limitation on governments, so that though the powers of European kings grew they never became like oriental despots, who owned everything in their realm.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“Today heads of state inspect guards of honor. They move along the ranks, appearing to scrutinize the soldiers, perhaps saying a word or two. This is a carry-over from an early medieval practice when the king was really scrutinizing the soldiers he had been sent and saying to himself: what sort of rubbish have they sent this time?”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“The use of letters from the Greek alphabet for the signage in geometry reminds us of its origins.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“Latin is the language of Romans.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe

“Geometry is a simple, elegant, logical system, very satisfying, and beautiful.”
― John Hirst, The Shortest History of Europe