Abinger Harvest, 1936. Every action of theirs, that seems to them an act of their own free will, is in an historical sense not free at all, but in bondage to the whole course of previous history, and predestined from all eternity. The subject of history is the life of peoples and of humanity. To catch and pin down in words that is, to describe directly the life, not only of humanity, but even of a single people, appears to be impossible. Tolstoy, War and Peace, epilogue, part II, ch.
All history is modern history.
Wallace Stevens, Opus Posthumous. History abhors determinism but cannot tolerate chance. History is more or less bunk. Henry Ford, interview with Charles Wheeler, Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1916. Lord Acton, Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887.