"America was discovered accidentally by a great seaman……" — Samuel Eliot Morison
"America was discovered accidentally by a great seaman who was looking for something else; when discovered it was not wanted; and most of the exploration for the next fifty years was done in the hope of getting through or around it. America was named after a man who discovered no part of the New World. History is like that, very chancy."
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Samuel Eliot Morison
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23 Quotes by Samuel Eliot Morison
Samuel Eliot Morison has 23 quotes on this site.
A few more worth reading:
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The freedmen were not really free in 1865, nor are most of their descendants really free in 1965. Slavery was…
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Dream dreams and write them aye, but live them first.
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Make no mistake; the American Revolution was not fought to obtain freedom, but to preserve the liberties that Americans already…
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The cruel policy initiated by Columbus and pursued by his successors resulted in complete genocide.
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If the European discovery had been delayed for a century or two, it is possible that the Aztec in Mexico…
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If the American Revolution had produced nothing but the Declaration of Independence, it would have been worth while. . .…
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But sea power has never led to despotism. The nations that have enjoyed sea power even for a brief period-Athens,…
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Intellectual honesty is the quality that the public in free countries always has expected of historians; much more than that…
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The same contingencies of time and space that force a statesman or soldier to make decisions, impel the historian, though…
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Franklin may . . . be considered one of the founding fathers of American democracy, since no democratic government can…
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A tough but nervous, tenacious but restless race [the Yankees]; materially ambitious, yet prone to introspection, and subject to waves…
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So I have cultivated the vast garden of human experience which is history, without troubling myself overmuch about laws, essential…
See all 23 quotes by Samuel Eliot Morison »
More Accidentally Quotes
This quote is filed under Accidentally Quotes,
one of 262 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:
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In 1945 J.A. Ratcliffe ... suggested that I [join his group at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge] to start an investigation of…
— Martin Ryle
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The true genius is a mind of large general powers, accidentally determined to some particular direction.
— Samuel Johnson
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There's more to be learned here [St. Andrews] about course design than anywhere. Collection bunkers, false fronts, bump shots. The…
— Jack Nicklaus
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Viktor Petrenko and I met at a competition, where I beat him completely accidentally. I felt so embarrassed in front…
— Evgeni Plushenko
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If I hurt someone, if I were to accidentally poke someone's eye out, I would laugh. And then I'd say,…
— Rachel McAdams
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For exactly the same reason, it is sometimes satisfying to cut yourself and bleed. On those gray [sic] days where…
— Augusten Burroughs
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Would it not be strange if a universe without purpose accidentally created humans who are so obsessed with purpose?
— John Templeton
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Ever heard the story about a cat that accidentally caught a mouse in his sleep? Me neither
— Mike Murdock
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Whether deliberately, unconsciously or accidentally, she seems to have composed her own life so that its fitful, rudderless, and self-doubting…
— Carolyn Heilbrun
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For me songwriting is very...it's almost like an accident. 'Oh I accidentally wrote about that.' I sit down with the…
— Unknown Author
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When I was 23, 24, I used to have a really bad runny nose, mucus, tons of acne, reddishness all…
— Woody Harrelson
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I started in radio, again accidentally. I wasn't looking for this kind of work at all.
— Hector Elizondo
See all 262 Accidentally Quotes »