Accomplished Quote by François-René de Chateaubriand

All history is the history of unintended consequences.

— T. J. Jackson Lears

Consequences are unpitying. Our deeds carry their terrible consequences, quite apart from any fluctuations that went before—consequences that are hardly ever confined to ourselves.…

— George Eliot

History portrays everything as if it could not have come otherwise. History is on the side of what happened.

— Elias Canetti

The law of unintended consequences is the only real law of history.

— Niall Ferguson

For historians, hindsight can be a treacherous ally. Enabling us to trace the hidden patterns of past events, it beguiles us with the mirage…

— Eric Foner

Every beginning is a consequence - every beginning ends some thing.

— Paul Valery

History can show you that it was one pile of bad stuff after another. It can also show you that there's been tremendous progress…

— Tony Judt

Western conception of history has had great consequences over the last two hundred years. You see it in the invasion of Iraq. You see…

— Pankaj Mishra

The main thing history can teach us is that human actions have consequences, and that certain choices, once made, cannot be undone.

— Gerda Lerner

Nothing is so clear in history that is it happens for any one thing. It seems that a lot of things come together to…

— Jane Jacobs

What I have learned from studying counterfactual history is that the law of unintended consequences always kicks in no matter how secure you are…

— Gavriel David Rosenfeld

Paradox is an overrated threat. There is...a quality similar to inertia at work. Once an event has occurred, there is an extremely strong tendency…

— Jim Butcher