--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Properly speaking, history is nothing but…" description: "\"Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.\" — Pierre Bayle" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/pierre-bayle-22563_history_properly-speaking-history-is-nothing-but_2231850.jpg" --- # Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and… ![“Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.” quote by Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/pierre-bayle-22563_history_properly-speaking-history-is-nothing-but_2231850.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/pierre-bayle-22563_history_properly-speaking-history-is-nothing-but_2231850.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/pierre-bayle-22563_history_properly-speaking-history-is-nothing-but_2231850.jpg) > “Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.” [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. History records humanity’s suffering and wrongdoing more than its triumphs. **In simple terms:** History shows more crimes than successes. Key Takeaway Learn from past mistakes. Themes history human nature morality Mood somber reflective Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - education - policy making - social reform - media analysis Key Concepts philosophy ethics Questions to Reflect On - What lessons can we draw from past crimes? - How can we balance remembering tragedy with hope? A Different Perspective Not all history is negative; progress exists. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Crimes Misfortunes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crimes-misfortunes-648786/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [History Crimes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history-crimes-2247949/) [Human race](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-race/) [Misfortunes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misfortunes/) [Misfortunes Human](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misfortunes-human-5024269/) [Race](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/race/) ## Related quotes > [Not to feel one's misfortunes is not human, not to bear them is not manly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seneca-the-younger/not-to-feel-one-s-misfortunes-is-not-human-not-to-bear-them-is-not/) [Seneca the Younger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seneca-the-younger/) > [Men of faith know that throughout history the crimes committed in liberty's name have been exceeded only by those committed in God's name.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mills-e-godwin/men-of-faith-know-that-throughout-history-the-crimes-committed-in/) [Mills E Godwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mills-e-godwin/) > [The history of man is the history of crimes, and history can repeat. So information is a defence. Through this we can build, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-wiesenthal/the-history-of-man-is-the-history-of-crimes-and-history-can-repeat-so/) [Simon Wiesenthal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-wiesenthal/) > [History is but the record of crimes and misfortunes. L'histoire n'est que le tableau des crimes et des malheurs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/history-is-but-the-record-of-crimes-and-misfortunes-l-histoire-n-est/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/indeed-history-is-nothing-more-than-a-tableau-of-crimes-and/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [History is no more than the portrayal of crimes and misfortunes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/history-is-no-more-than-the-portrayal-of-crimes-and-misfortunes/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/history-is-only-the-register-of-crimes-and-misfortunes/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [As long as the human race is able to concern itself with more than mere survival, soccer will have its place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desmond-morris/as-long-as-the-human-race-is-able-to-concern-itself-with-more-than/) [Desmond Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desmond-morris/) > [How many years has it taken people to realize that we are all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race? I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsha-p-johnson/how-many-years-has-it-taken-people-to-realize-that-we-are-all/) [Marsha P. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsha-p-johnson/) > [You don't have to be Sigmund Freud to surmise that war has a perverse appeal for the human race, nor is the attraction limited…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-willis/you-don-t-have-to-be-sigmund-freud-to-surmise-that-war-has-a-perverse/) [Ellen Willis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-willis/) > [As a result of reading science fiction when I was eight, I grew up with an interest in music, architecture, city planning, transportation, politics,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/as-a-result-of-reading-science-fiction-when-i-was-eight-i-grew-up/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [Poetry fettered, fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed or flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/poetry-fettered-fetters-the-human-race-nations-are-destroyed-or/) [William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/) > [I think the next 50 years are going to present the human race with challenges that so far exceed the limitations of geopolitical boundaries…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zachary-quinto/i-think-the-next-50-years-are-going-to-present-the-human-race-with/) [Zachary Quinto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zachary-quinto/) > [The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates. Not only does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [Race is the idea that a human being is more superior than another human being, race in society grants illusional rights to mistreat each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-limn/race-is-the-idea-that-a-human-being-is-more-superior-than-another/) [Jeremy Limn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-limn/) ## More by Pierre Bayle > [I am a good Protestant, and in the full sense of the term, for from the bottom of my soul, I protest against everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/i-am-a-good-protestant-and-in-the-full-sense-of-the-term-for-from-the/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [It is only common prejudice that induces us to believe that atheism is a fearful state.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/it-is-only-common-prejudice-that-induces-us-to-believe-that-atheism/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [So that, were it the purpose of God to produce comets as signs of his wrath it would be true to say that he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/so-that-were-it-the-purpose-of-god-to-produce-comets-as-signs-of-his/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [Consider, I pray, whether you are not renouncing all shame and sincerity to advance such principles. Because a comet appears in a group of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/consider-i-pray-whether-you-are-not-renouncing-all-shame-and/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [Compulsion in the literal Sense is maliciously misrepresented, by supposing it authorizes Violences committed against the Truth. The Answer to this; by which it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/compulsion-in-the-literal-sense-is-maliciously-misrepresented-by/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [Do you doubt that the least effects of nature were not used as marks of the wrath of heaven? It was to the interest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/do-you-doubt-that-the-least-effects-of-nature-were-not-used-as-marks/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [I lay down the Position, That whatever a Conscience well directed allows us to do for the Advancement of Truth, an erroneous Conscience will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/i-lay-down-the-position-that-whatever-a-conscience-well-directed/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [There was no other God, religion, or lawful magistracy, than conscience, which teaches all men the precepts of Justice, to do no injury, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/there-was-no-other-god-religion-or-lawful-magistracy-than-conscience/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [I get up and retire when I wish. I go out if I wish and I do not go out if I do not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/i-get-up-and-retire-when-i-wish-i-go-out-if-i-wish-and-i-do-not-go/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [The antiquity and general acceptance of an opinion is not assurance of its truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/the-antiquity-and-general-acceptance-of-an-opinion-is-not-assurance/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [“In the matters of religion, it is very hard to deceive a man, and very hard to undeceive him.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/in-the-matters-of-religion-it-is-very-hard-to-deceive-a-man-and-very/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [There is not less wit nor invention in applying rightly a thought one finds in a book, than in being the first author of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/there-is-not-less-wit-nor-invention-in-applying-rightly-a-thought-one/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [The furnace of affliction refines us from earthly drossiness, and softens us for the impression of God's own stamp.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/the-furnace-of-affliction-refines-us-from-earthly-drossiness-and/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [I know too much to be a sceptic and too little to be a dogmatist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/i-know-too-much-to-be-a-sceptic-and-too-little-to-be-a-dogmatist/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) > [The movement of comets is part of the ordinary works of nature which, without regard to the happiness or misery of mankind, are transported…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/the-movement-of-comets-is-part-of-the-ordinary-works-of-nature-which/) [Pierre Bayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) [Explore all 27 Pierre Bayle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/) ## More History quotes > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. Their stories are, if they are truthful, untidy affairs, resistant to windings-up and sortings-out. They beat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/histories-never-conclude-they-just-pause-their-prose-their-stories/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [It is said that history turns on small hinges. A human career, too, results from an accumulating series of decisions about large and small…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-vincent-peale/it-is-said-that-history-turns-on-small-hinges-a-human-career-too/) [Norman Vincent Peale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-vincent-peale/) > [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another day just like today, and there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-buechner/in-the-entire-history-of-the-universe-let-alone-in-your-own-history/) [Frederick Buechner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-buechner/) > [The NBA is my history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penny-hardaway/the-nba-is-my-history/) [Penny Hardaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penny-hardaway/) > [History has often showed us the strength of the forces that are unleashed by the yearning for freedom. It moved people to overcome their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-merkel/history-has-often-showed-us-the-strength-of-the-forces-that-are/) [Angela Merkel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-merkel/) > [We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/we-find-few-historians-who-have-been-diligent-enough-in-their-search/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) > [What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-is-history-after-all-history-is-facts-which-become-lies-in-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Things live and die, and then someone processes them into edible portions. This is a complete telling of the story, 'Food.' The basic plot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-fahrenthold/things-live-and-die-and-then-someone-processes-them-into-edible/) [David Fahrenthold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-fahrenthold/) > [History is a certain way, but you just change the point of view a little bit, and you discover a whole new side of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allison-schroeder/history-is-a-certain-way-but-you-just-change-the-point-of-view-a/) [Allison Schroeder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allison-schroeder/) > [We're at a point in history were we have to become a part of the neighborhood of inhabited planets, like a neighborhood of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-mitchell/we-re-at-a-point-in-history-were-we-have-to-become-a-part-of-the/) [Edgar Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-mitchell/) > [Today is a reality, tomorrow's a promise, and yesterday's history!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-blanks/today-is-a-reality-tomorrow-s-a-promise-and-yesterday-s-history/) [Billy Blanks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-blanks/) > [Truth be told from compulsive liars with a history/Everything must change 2nd chances are a mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-dash/truth-be-told-from-compulsive-liars-with-a-history-everything-must/) [C-DASH](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-dash/) > [Every army in the history of the world has always had some deserters, usually much greater than we have today, because once again every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-hilferty/every-army-in-the-history-of-the-world-has-always-had-some-deserters/) [Bryan Hilferty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-hilferty/) > [“To those great geniuses now in petticoats, who shall write novels for the beloved reader's children, these men and things will be as much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-makepeace-thackeray/to-those-great-geniuses-now-in-petticoats-who-shall-write-novels-for/) [William Makepeace Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-makepeace-thackeray/) [Browse all 27,263 History quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pierre Bayle" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/properly-speaking-history-is-nothing-but-the-crimes-and-misfortunes/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "History" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/properly-speaking-history-is-nothing-but-the-crimes-and-misfortunes/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/pierre-bayle-22563_history_properly-speaking-history-is-nothing-but_2231850.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/pierre-bayle-22563_history_properly-speaking-history-is-nothing-but_2231850.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/pierre-bayle-22563_history_properly-speaking-history-is-nothing-but_2231850.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.” — Pierre Bayle", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Pierre Bayle", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bayle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Properly speaking, history is nothing but...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/properly-speaking-history-is-nothing-but-the-crimes-and-misfortunes/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bayle/properly-speaking-history-is-nothing-but-the-crimes-and-misfortunes/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```