100 Mistakes That Changed History

• Sometimes, a mistake, even one that changes history, comes from ignorance, not stupidity or bad judgment. But even with that said, in this case, the difference between intent and ignorance does not make the consequences less disastrous.

• Some great thinkers are years ahead of their time, whereas others are millennia ahead of theirs.

• If you have everything to lose and winning will not win the war, accept any peace you can get.

• Had Carthage survived as a major economic presence in the Mediterranean, the city might well have slowed or changed the expansion of Rome. Certainly its mercantile philosophy and family-centered social structure would have been more present in today’s Western culture as opposed to the patriotic and state-centered ideal that we have all inherited from Rome.