[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
->''"If Kira is caught, then Kira is evil. If he wins and rules the world, Kira is justice."''
-->-- '''Light Yagami''', ''Manga/DeathNote''

->''"[[MightMakesRight Those who stand at the top determine what's wrong and what's right!]] [[BigBadassBattleSequence This very place is neutral ground!]] JusticeWillPrevail, you say?! But of course it will!! [[CharacterFilibuster Whoever wins this war becomes justice!!!]]"''
-->-- '''Donquixote Doflamingo''', ''Manga/OnePiece''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
->''"Uh... comrades... loyal troops... children of the atom... the day we struggled for has arrived! The fighting was bitter, the cost terrible, but we have been vindicated! We were right! A-and even if it were otherwise... there are none left to accuse us."'''
-->-- '''Magneto''', ''[[ComicBook/XMen Heroes for Hope]]''

->''"[[ComicBook/TheJudasContract Tara]] deserved more than what she got, and she deserved to be remembered as being better than the nature to which she succumbed.\\
But history is written by the living. Not by the dead."''
-->-- '''Katana''', ''ComicBook/TheOtherHistoryOfTheDCUniverse''

->''"There '''are''' no goodies and baddies. There's just whoever's '''tough enough''' to be in charge of the story '''today''' -- and even '''they're''' just waiting to be [[FullCircleRevolution knocked over by the next fanatic in line]]."''
-->-- '''Lona Aphra''', ''ComicBook/StarWarsDoctorAphra''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
->'''Mordor Commander:''' You cheated. Even the knights of the North will not shake your hand.\\
'''Aragorn:''' Of course they won't, since they will be kneeling before the new King of Gondor! I beat you in an honest fight, one on one -- so it shall be written in all the history books. As for you, they won't even remember your name, I'll make sure of that. Actually, we can make it even more interesting: let you be killed by a midget, some tiny little dwarf with hairy paws. Or by a broad... yes, that's how we'll do it.
-->-- ''Fanfic/TheLastRingbearer''

->"Truth, Blacker, is a fickle mistress, and one whom ultimately sells herself to the winners, [[EvilGloating among whom you are not]]."
-->-- '''Charlie Wilkes''', ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10858680/1/Six-Degrees Six Degrees]]'', a ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' fanfic

->[Ruffnut] let him go with a grin. "So... where I think we want to end..." She exaggeratedly looked him up and down lasciviously, making him laugh. "Well, aside from bed tonight, how's this?" She cleared her throat, and said in her 'saga' voice, ''"And Magnus the Good was seen as a kind and strong king, unquestioned in his authority over his kingdoms--"''\\
"Kingdoms!?" he interjected, surprised.\\
"''--Kingdoms,''" she continued, and said tartly, "don't interrupt, it's rude, ''[='=]kingdoms, and seen as wise and insightful, and beloved by all, having established early in his reign that dissent was acceptable... but rebellion was not.[='=]''" She cleared her throat. "How's that?"\\
"Ambitious," he said, and took a deep breath. "Very ambitious. I mean, Ruff... I have almost no real power or influence -- and the people I would need to get it from want to keep it that way."\\
"You have me, you have Tuffnut, you have Yngvarr, and, oh yeah, you have Berk. You've got us, Magnus. It'll be tricky, but we can do it."\\
"It'll be hard," he said, shaking his head, a small smile on his face. "But your confidence is inspiring."\\
She smirked. "Well, the ones who write the sagas are the winners, yeah?" She snuggled up next to him. "I wanna write that one."
-->-- ''Fanfic/AThingOfVikings'', [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/10408971/chapters/30625665 Chapter 36]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
->'''Thanos:''' I will shred this universe down to its last atom, and then, with the Stones you've collected for me, create a new one, teeming with life, that knows not what it has lost, but only what it has been given. A grateful universe.\\
'''Steve Rogers:''' Born out of blood.\\
'''Thanos:''' They'll never know. Because you won't be alive to tell them.
-->-- ''Film/AvengersEndgame''

->''"Historians in England will say I am a liar, but history is written by those who have hanged heroes."''
-->-- '''Robert the Bruce''', ''Film/{{Braveheart}}''

->''"Medical books aren't written about losers!"''
-->-- '''Thrax''', ''Film/OsmosisJones''

->'''Gregers:''' There's two sides to every story.\\
'''Max:''' [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters The winner decides who's a terrorist?]]\\
'''Gregers:''' Then it's [[LaResistance up to us]], I guess.
-->-- ''Film/MaxManus''

->''"We have achieved our position through poise, precision and audacity. To this we must now add resolve. We'll be branded as traitors, the gravest capital crime. Punishable by death. A couple hundred years ago, a few guys named Washington, Jefferson and Adams were branded as traitors by the British. [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters And now they're called patriots]]. In time, so shall we."''
-->-- '''Gen. Francis X. Hummel''', ''Film/TheRock''

->''"Half of history is hiding the truth."''
-->-- '''Malcolm Reynolds''', ''Film/{{Serenity}}''

->''"[[ColdBloodedTorture What I'm doing here]] is good for my people if I get results. If I save them. Y'see, there is no [[TortureTechnician H]] and [[WesternTerrorists Younger]]. There's only victory and defeat. The winner gets to take the moral high ground because they get to write the history books. The loser just loses."''
-->-- '''H''', ''Film/{{Unthinkable}}''

->''"As long as history will be written by hunters, lions shall never be glorified."''
-->-- '''Mujtaba''', ''Film/{{Waar}}''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
->''"If I win, I'm a prodigy. If I lose, then I'm mad. That's the way history is written."''
-->-- '''Artemis Fowl''', ''Literature/ArtemisFowl''

->After all, words are what remain when all the deeds have been done. Words can shatter faith; start a war; change the course of history. A story can make your heart beat faster; topple walls; scale mountains – hey, a story can even raise the dead. And that's why [[GuileHero the King of Stories]] ended up being [[TopGod King of the Gods]]; because ''writing'' history and ''making'' history are only the breadth of a page apart.
-->-- ''Literature/TheGospelOfLoki''

->'''Henry Pleasants:''' Worse luck for the country, you chewed up the whole Army of the Potomac pretty good, you and those damned repeaters of yours.\\
'''Nate Caudell:''' I wouldn't say it's worse luck for the country.\\
'''Henry Pleasants:''' No, I don't suppose you would. And since your side won, the history books won't say that, either. But I do. It's too damn bad.
-->-- ''Literature/TheGunsOfTheSouth''

->Traitors who prevail are patriots; usurpers who succeed are divine emperors.
-->-- ''Literature/{{Julian}}''

->He who controls the past, controls the future; he who controls the present, controls the past.
-->-- ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''

->Perhaps you will be proven correct. Perhaps not. Ultimately, the claim goes to the strongest, does it not? In the final sort of things, I mean. He who remains alive, remains alive to write the histories in a light favorable to him and his cause. Surely as worldly as you are, you know well the histories of the world, Master Wingham. Surely you recognize that armies carrying banners are almost always thieves-until they win.
-->-- '''Jarlaxle''', ''[[Literature/TheSellswords Road of the Patriarch]]''

->And so it is true that we can manipulate our own reality. We can persuade, even deceive. We can make others view us in dishonest ways. We can hide selfishness with charity, make a craving for acceptance into magnanimity, and amplify our smile to coerce a hesitant lover. The world is illusion, and often delusion, as victors write the histories and the children who die quietly under the stamp of a triumphant army never really existed. The robber baron becomes philanthropist in the final analysis, by bequeathing only that for which he had no more use. The king who sends young men and women to die becomes beneficent with the kiss of a baby. Every problem becomes a problem of perception to those who understand that reality, in reality, is what you make reality to be.
-->-- '''Drizzt''', ''[[Literature/TheSellswords Road of the Patriarch]]''

->I love how the so-called "good" guys get to revise events to make stuff more convenient for them.
-->-- '''Skitter''', ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Colony 15.6
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
->''"I knew I shouldn't go... 'cause when the victors rewrite history, it's just another kind of war... waged after the battlefield killing is done... to murder the memory of the defeated."''
-->-- '''Takeshi Kovacs''', ''Series/AlteredCarbon'', "[[Recap/AlteredCarbonS01E02FallenAngel Fallen Angel]]"

->'''Londo:''' [[OrbitalBombardment Mass drivers?!]] They have been outlawed by every civilized planet!\\
'''Lord Refa:''' These are uncivilized times.\\
'''Londo:''' We have treaties!\\
'''Refa:''' Ink on a page.
-->-- ''Series/BabylonFive'', "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E20TheLongTwilightStruggle The Long, Twilight Struggle]]"

->'''Eddard Stark:''' What you suggest is high treason.\\
'''Littlefinger:''' Only if we lose.
-->-- ''Series/GameOfThrones''

->'''Mido:''' Losing the proxy battle means I withdraw our forces, relinquish Hokuto, and that [[ArtifactOfDoom Pandora's Box]] is the shared property of the three nations! [[IGaveMyWord I agreed to those conditions]]!\\
'''[[CorruptCorporateExecutive Nanba]]:''' Then you can ignore those conditions. Winners write history. [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans If you take control, you can make any justifications you want afterwards]].
-->-- ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'', "The Genius Arrives with a Tank"

->'''Dukat:''' It takes a great man to admit he's wrong. And that's what Ghemor did. I'm speaking of his last-minute change of heart -- his deathbed decision to embrace the new Dominion government.\\
'''Sisko:''' That's very moving, except for one small problem: it never happened.\\
'''Weyoun:''' As you say, [[BastardlySpeech it's a small problem]].
-->-- ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E19TiesOfBloodAndWater Ties of Blood and Water]]"

->'''Data:''' Captain, there is nothing in this room to indicate it was used as a military command center. Perhaps a transporter room?\\
'''Worf:''' But the probe was hostile.\\
'''Picard:''' We can't make that assumption. The effect on the ''Yamato'' was devastating, [[HanlonsRazor but what if it was by accident, not by design]]? What I'm going to say may sound unscientific, but standing on this soil, breathing in this air, my instincts tell me that we may have got them wrong.\\
'''Worf:''' But we do know that the Iconians were conquerors.\\
'''Picard:''' But that knowledge was passed down by the descendants of those who attacked this world. The victors invariably write the history to their own advantage. There is an unfortunate tendency in many cultures to fear what they do not understand. It's possible that their enemies, confronted with this technology, were driven to attack the Iconians out of fear.
-->-- ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E11Contagion Contagion]]"

->'''Finn:''' Yes, I've read your history books. [[OccupiersOutOfOurCountry This is a war for independence]], and I am no different than your own UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.\\
'''Crusher:''' Washington was a military general, not a terrorist.\\
'''Finn:''' [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters The difference between generals and terrorists, Doctor, is only the difference between winners and losers]]. You win, you're called a general. You lose...\\
'''Crusher:''' You are killing innocent people! Can't you see the immorality of what you're doing, [[HeWhoFightsMonsters or have you killed so much you've become blind to it]]?
-->-- ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E12TheHighGround The High Ground]]"

->''"There's an ancient Indian saying that something lives only as long as the last person who remembers it. My people have come to trust memory over history. Memory, like fire, is radiant and immutable while history only serves those who seek to control it, those who would douse the flame of memory in order to put out the dangerous fire of truth. Beware these men, for they are dangerous themselves... and unwise. Their false history is written in the blood of those who might remember it and of those who seek the truth."''
-->-- '''Albert Hosteen''', ''Series/TheXFiles'', "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E01TheBlessingWay The Blessing Way]]"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
->No weak men in the books at home\\
The strong men who have made the world\\
History lives in the books at home\\
The books at home
-->-- '''Music/GangOfFour''', "Not Great Men"

->And all these things are swept aside\\
By bloody hands time can't deny\\
And are washed away by your genocide\\
And history hides the lies of our civil wars
-->-- '''Music/GunsNRoses''', "Civil War"

->Rewrite the book and rule the pages,\\
Saving face, secured in faith.\\
Bury, burn the waste behind you.
-->-- '''Music/{{REM}}''', "Cuyahoga"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
->Victory needs no explanation, defeat admits none.
-->-- '''Imperial Thought for the Day''', ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
->'''Creator/BenjaminFranklin:''' Treason is a charge invented by winners as an excuse for hanging the losers.\\
'''UsefulNotes/JohnAdams:''' ''[scoffs]'' I have more to do than stand here all day listening to you [[QuotingMyself quote yourself]].\\
'''Franklin:''' Oh, John, that was a new one!
-->-- ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix''

->''"Our history is nothing more than what the losers settle for!"''
-->-- '''The Death Eaters''' in ''Theatre/AVeryPotterSequel''

->Elphaba, where I'm from, we believe all sorts of things that aren't true. We call it "history".\\
A man's called a [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters traitor — or liberator]]\\
A rich man's a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive thief]] -- or [[WealthyPhilanthropist philanthropist]]\\
Is one a [[KnightInShiningArmour crusader]] -- or [[EvilColonialist ruthless invader]]?\\
It's all in which label\\
Is able to persist
-->-- '''Film/TheWizardOfOz''', ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
->''"Yet there is more to the story, for history is naught but accounts recorded by the victorious."'''
-->-- '''Lord Lester [=DeRosso=]''', ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault''

->''"This is for the record. History is written by the victor. History is filled with liars. If he lives and we die, his truth becomes written -- and ours is lost. [[BigBad Shepherd]] will be a hero. 'Cause all you need to change the world is one good lie and a river of blood. He's about to complete the greatest trick a liar ever played on history. His truth will be the truth. But only if he lives, and we die."''
-->-- '''Captain Price''', ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2''

->Though its face may change throughout the ages, history is written from the hand of the victor. By your actions this day... you ensure our people a glorious tomorrow.
-->-- ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} VI'', if you win a [[TakeOverTheWorld Domination victory]]

->''"He who controls the past, commands the future. He who commands the future, conquers the past."''
-->-- '''Kane''', ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer''

->''"Losers don't matter in the history books. He's a fucking footnote."''
-->-- '''Caesar''', ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''

->''"The power wrought by Ul'dahn prosperity was that of justice and good, while the power wrought by Sil'dihn knowledge was horrific beyond belief -- the power to rip the living soul out of a man and render him a mindless killing machine. On this matter, the histories are clear. But riddle me this, my friend: who writes the histories, and what does this say of the words writ within? Yes, truth can be elusive and fickle as the shifting sands... As one example, did you know that in the war against Sil'dih, Ul'dahn and Amalj'aa warriors fought side by side? Likely, you did not. And neither did I, until I encountered a faded passage in an ancient text buried deep in our archives. And yet, in the histories read by the populace, you will see no mention of this most fascinating fact. Might it be that someone, at some time, deemed this particular truth less than convenient? Hm hm hm...? But I have said enough already..."''
-->-- '''Cocobuki''', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', "Sibling Strife"

->''"The victor shall write the tale, and the vanquished become its villain!"''
-->-- '''Emet-Selch''', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''

->'''Chrom:''' That was Arvis... the villain in every [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Jugdrali]] saga I've ever heard. ...So why does he come across as so pleasant?\\
'''[[PlayerCharacter Avatar]]:''' History decides heroes and villains on a different basis than reality. Perhaps the stories got Arvis wrong. He did lose out in the end, after all...
-->-- ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', intro dialogue for [[DownloadableContent "Lost Bloodlines 2"]]

->''"It's normal for history to be revised in favor of those who hold the power. The documents in this library are no exception. It's perfectly possible for someone to have made edits to them. But it's my belief that no one has the power to blot out the truth entirely. I like to read the same texts over and over again. That way, I can spot some of the truths hidden between the lines..."''
-->-- '''An Imperial scholar''', ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses''

->''"Thank you for coming. I wish to share the results of my research regarding [[BigBad Merga]] and the water dragon people. At first, what I found merely reaffirmed everything we already knew... That the water dragons turned violent. That Merga was their greatest warrior. That many Shang Tusians died defending themselves from the Parusan scourge. Then I realized that the books I had read were all written by earth dragons and their descendants. I scoured the library for any book that could possibly recount history from a water dragon's perspective. I found it within a handwritten book of flowers and horticulture. There were various annotations by the author describing what was then to her current events. If what she wrote is true, then... I'm so sorry, Lilac. [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Merga is right to be angry]]."''
-->-- '''The Royal Magister''', ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2''

->''"It is easy to rewrite history when the few who know the truth are unable to make themselves heard."''
-->-- '''Phantom''', ''VideoGame/LastScenario''

->''"The legends paint the Antarans as ruthless, xenophobic killers, but we all know that history is written by the victors."''
-->-- '''Ectron Victor''', ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion''

->''"I'm talking ideals. ...Forget it, we've both heard enough speeches about higher causes by now. History will decide [[MightMakesRight who is right]]. [[BringIt End of story]]."''
-->-- '''Samuel "Jetstream" Rodrigues''', ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''

->''"And he who controls the battlefield, controls history."''
-->-- '''Solid Snake''', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''

->''[X] has defeated the [[LesCollaborateurs Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia]] in a war.\\
The traitors will never get to tell their side of the story.''
-->-- '''Samara capitulation message''', ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysofEurope''

->'''Dakh'thoulan Aegis:''' History is written by the strong and influential.\\
'''Player Character:''' What does that mean?\\
'''Dakh'thoulan Aegis:''' It means we cannot always believe what we are told to believe. You would do well to remember that.
-->-- ''VideoGame/RuneScape''

->''"As a young man, I revered historical records and treated them as fact. I followed in the footsteps of Herodotus, and I sought to experience history first-hand, even when it meant [[MentalTimeTravel taking dangerous leaps through time and space]], aided by [[HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs chemical agents that are, at best, prohibited]]. I came to realize at last something fundamental: history is interpretation. There's no singular truth. There are no facts. History isn't only written by the victor; it's ''rewritten'' by subsequent victors, or ''losers'' who come into possession of the victors' texts, or-or-or the mistresses of victors who figured they'd write themselves into history to ensure immortality!"''
-->-- '''Iain Tibet Gladstone''', ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld''

->''"Those that get in the way are the ones that get called 'villains', while those who win get to be called 'heroes', you know..."''
-->-- '''Pearl''', ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' (Japanese localization)

->''"We were all taught of the Darcsen Calamity, and how their actions forever scorched the land. But this account told a different story. The Valkyrur invaded this land from the north, slaying the indigenous Darcsen people as they came. Their grasp of Ragnite technology and the art of war were vastly superior. They trained the destructive power of Ragnite on the Darcsen's land, burned it to ash, then had the gall to pass the blame for their inhuman deeds off on their Darcsen slaves. Darcsens have borne that stigma ever since, while the Valkyrur became godlike saviors. The victors simply rewrote the history books."''
-->-- '''Faldio Landzaat''', ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles''

->These are the only remaining records that describe the events of the Gerten War. However, history was written by the victor.
-->-- '''Description for the Gylia Watch Library''', ''VideoGame/{{Wynncraft}}''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
->''"Waging war is no sin -- losing a war is."''
-->-- '''Walter Gerlitz''', ''VisualNovel/DiesIrae''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
->There may be folks around here that didn't live through [[Wrestling/MondayNightWars the whole Nitro vs. Raw era]] and don't understand exactly what happened back then that made this [the hug between Wrestling/VinceMcMahon and Wrestling/EricBischoff on ''Raw'' in 2002] so infuriating. Maybe you're trying to educate yourself to what happened by watching the ''Monday Night War'' series on the WWE Network. If that's your plan, let me save you some time and give you that version of the story:\\
-- WWE was doing great except they had a handful of bad characters that served as the basis for [=WrestleCrap.com=]\\
-- The Evil UsefulNotes/TedTurner [[Wrestling/{{WCW}} bought all of WWE's top stars]]\\
-- Folks were CONFUSED so they started watching ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Nitro]]''\\
-- Eventually, Wrestling/DGenerationX came on the scene and attacked WCW which made everyone realize that WCW sucked mainly due to Wrestling/TripleH being such a stud\\
-- Vince then defeated the Evil Ted Turner by buying out the company\\
I don’t think I missed too much from what I’ve seen so far. It’s sorta infuriating, but hey, the won the war and thus the victors get to tell their version of history.
-->-- '''RD Reynolds''', ''Website/WrestleCrap'', [[http://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/induction-eric-bischoffs-wwe-debut-the-hug-that-flushed-millions-down-the-crapper/ "Eric Biscoff's WWE - The Hug That Flushed Millions Down the Crapper"]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
->''"...[The Vikings'] reputation as bloodthirsty wild men of the North is probably exaggerated. You gotta remember that history is shaped by those who wrote it, and all of those like bloodthirsty men of the North narratives were written by like victims of Viking raids. [[SubvertedTrope So history isn't always written by the winners]], but when it's written by the losers, they're really bitter about the winners."''
-->-- '''Creator/JohnGreen''', ''WebVideo/CrashCourse'', "The Vikings!"

->''"21 engagements! That's a lot of potential war crime trials, which is why we have to win."''
-->-- '''WebVideo/Max0r'''[='s=] [[https://youtu.be/dYWOi1bK48s review]] of ''VideoGame/ProjectWingman''

->''"Y'know, they say history is written by the winners, but I can't help but notice [Tommy] over there writing."''
-->-- '''WebVideo/{{Technoblade}}''', ''WebVideo/SMPEarth''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
->''"History is a procession of victories by the strong over the weak. It is not that the weak never win, but only that, in winning, they ''become'' the strong. In winning they control the writing of history. So, they were ''always'' strong. History is strength."''
-->-- '''Trevor Goodchild''', ''WesternAnimation/AeonFlux''

->''"Now remember, class, please take this new history book with a grain of salt, since it focuses primarily on the history of white Western males."''
-->-- '''Miss Grotke''', ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}''

->'''Bo-Katan:''' You're all traitors.\\
'''Maul:''' Unfortunately for you, history will not see it that way. Execute them!
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
->The first casualty in war is always the truth.
-->-- [[OlderThanFeudalism Attributed to many]], likely '''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeschylus Aeschylus]]''' (perhaps he was the winner?)

->The important thing is that the glory of the winners' ascendant fortune gives everything of theirs -- [[YouAreTheNewTrend even their dress]], [[DoubleConsciousness their gait, their conversation]] -- [[MightyWhitey a radiance that makes them desirable]]. And people do not merely adopt them, [[TheAssimilator but are proud to adopt them]]. Then they bring forth, by means of intellectual arguments, many benefits of this.
-->-- '''Muḥammad Ḥusain Āzād''', quoted in ''Nets of Awareness: Urdu Poetry and Its Critics'' by Frances Pritchett, reflecting on the triumph of UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire

->...in Samuel Eliot Morison's history of [[UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus Columbus]] -- you know, big Harvard historian -- he talks about what a great man Columbus was, terrific person and so on, and then he has [[ReadTheFinePrint this little line]] saying, of course Columbus did set off a program of what he calls "complete genocide," and he was a major mass-murder himself, but that was [[AMillionIsAStatistic only a minor flaw]], he was really a terrific seaman, this and that and the other thing.
-->-- '''Noam Chomsky''', ''Understanding Power''

->For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all Parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.
-->-- '''UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill''', Speech in the House of Commons (January 23, 1948)

->We will go down in history either as the world's greatest statesmen or its worst villains.
-->-- '''[[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Hermann Göring]]'''

->Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.
-->-- '''Sir John Harrington'''

->It is not truth that matters, but victory.
-->-- '''UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler'''

->If you win, you need not have to explain. [[TemptingFate If you lose, you should not be there to explain!]]
-->-- '''UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler'''

->Killing Japanese didn't bother me very much at that time... I suppose if I had lost [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the war]], I would have been tried as a war criminal... Every soldier thinks something of the moral aspects of what he is doing. But [[WarIsHell all war is immoral]] and if you let that bother you, you're not a good soldier.
-->-- '''Curtis [=LeMay=]'''

->I do not believe that the Roman lower classes deserve the vituperation they have received from Roman (and Greek) writers, especially Creator/{{Cicero}}, from whom so much of our historical tradition about [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic Late Republican]] political life derives. If indeed they were to some extent demoralised and depraved, it was largely because the oligarchy had made it impossible for them to be anything else, and perhaps preferred them to be so, as our ancestors preferred to keep the English labouring classes ignorant and uneducated and without a voice in the government until well on in the nineteenth century. What chance did the humble Roman have of acquiring a sense of political responsibility? The unfortunate thing is that we can virtually never feel we are seeing things as they really were: our sources normally present us with a mere stock caricature.
-->-- '''G. E. M. de Ste. Croix''', ''The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World''.

->History would be something extraordinary, if only it were true.
-->-- '''Creator/LeoTolstoy'''

->Nations are not communities and never have been. The history of any country, presented as the history of a family, conceals the fierce conflicts of interest (sometimes exploding, often repressed) between conquerors and conquered, masters and slaves, capitalists and workers, dominators and dominated in race and sex. And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Creator/AlbertCamus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners.
-->-- '''Howard Zinn''', ''A People's History of the United States''

->Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.
-->-- African proverb

->''Dos fracos não reza a história.''\\
History does not speak of the weak.
-->-- Portuguese proverb

->History is a set of lies agreed upon.
-->-- '''UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte'''

->Clio, the muse of history, is as thoroughly infected with lies as a street whore with syphilis.
-->-- '''Arthur Schopenhauer''', ''Parerga and Paralipomena II'', §233

->''"Those who commit the murders write the reports."''
-->-- '''Ida B. Wells'''
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