---
title: "1 Afterward Quotes By Bruce Catton"
description: "1 Afterward quotes by Bruce Catton. Plus more from Bruce Catton and more Afterward sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fb/bruce-catton-15493_doe_history-does-not-usually-make-real-sense_1334606.jpg"
---

> [History does not usually make real sense until long afterward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/history-does-not-usually-make-real-sense-until-long-afterward/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fb/bruce-catton-15493_doe_history-does-not-usually-make-real-sense_1334606.jpg)

## More by Bruce Catton

> [ Beneath everything else, North and West, there ran a profound, unvoiced, almost subconscious conviction that the \[American\] nation was going to go on growing-in… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/beneath-everything-else-north-and-west-there-ran-a-profound-unvoiced/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [The 1860 election became a referendum on the southern way of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/the-1860-election-became-a-referendum-on-the-southern-way-of-life/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [What began as a bitter dispute over Union and States' Rights, ended as a struggle over the meaning of freedom in America. At Gettysburg…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/what-began-as-a-bitter-dispute-over-union-and-states-rights-ended-as/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [And there is the headlight, shining far down the track, glinting off the steel rails that, like all parallel lines, will meet in infinity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/and-there-is-the-headlight-shining-far-down-the-track-glinting-off/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [The Civil War was fought in 10,000 places, from Valverde, New Mexico, and Tullahoma, Tennessee, to St. Albans, Vermont, and Fernandina on the Florida…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/the-civil-war-was-fought-in-10-000-places-from-valverde-new-mexico/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Even the most painstaking history is a bridge across an eternal mystery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/even-the-most-painstaking-history-is-a-bridge-across-an-eternal/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Shiloh had as many casualties as Waterloo, and yet there were another 20 Waterloos to come.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/shiloh-had-as-many-casualties-as-waterloo-and-yet-there-were-another/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [“The end of the war was like the beginning, with the army marching down the open road under the spring sky, seeing a far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/the-end-of-the-war-was-like-the-beginning-with-the-army-marching-down/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [“Early youth is a baffling time. The present moment is nice but it does not last. Living in it is like waiting in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/early-youth-is-a-baffling-time-the-present-moment-is-nice-but-it-does/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Here was the greatest and most moving chapter in American history, a blending of meanness and greatness, an ending and a beginning. It came…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/here-was-the-greatest-and-most-moving-chapter-in-american-history-a/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [The present moment is nice but it does not last. Living in it is like waiting in a junction town for the morning limited;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/the-present-moment-is-nice-but-it-does-not-last-living-in-it-is-like/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Like most Rebel soldiers, Sam Watkins owned no slaves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/like-most-rebel-soldiers-sam-watkins-owned-no-slaves/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Abraham Lincoln was not all brooding and melancholy and patient understanding. There was a hard core in him, and plenty of toughness. He could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/abraham-lincoln-was-not-all-brooding-and-melancholy-and-patient/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Sooner or later you must move down an unknown road that leads beyond the range of the imagination, and the only certainty is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/sooner-or-later-you-must-move-down-an-unknown-road-that-leads-beyond/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Men see things late, and it may be that at times an evil fate drives them on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/men-see-things-late-and-it-may-be-that-at-times-an-evil-fate-drives/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

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