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Here are some memorable quotes from major alternate history World War II books — both fiction and nonfiction. These lines reflect the tension, imagination, and unsettling realism that define the genre.
📖 Fictional Alternate History Quotes
🏮 The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.”
— (A meditation on truth in a world shaped by propaganda)
“You have to believe. Otherwise, it will never happen.”
— (Spoken about alternate realities—very meta for a book about them)
🕵️ Fatherland by Robert Harris
“The past is like a foreign country. Nice to visit, but you really wouldn’t want to live there.”
— (Ironically said in a world where the Nazi past never ended)
“Sometimes it is wiser to appear mad than to reveal the truth.”
— (Said by a character hiding dangerous secrets in a totalitarian regime)
“The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides.”
— (A reflection on how easy it is to forget how things could go wrong)
🕊️ Dominion by C.J. Sansom
“Democracy is not a natural state of affairs. It is an achievement, always fragile, always in need of defence.”
— (A theme across many WWII alternate histories)
⚔️ In the Presence of Mine Enemies by Harry Turtledove
“Even in the deepest shadow of tyranny, truth flickers like a candle. The trick is keeping the wind off it.”
— (Turtledove’s classic style: grim, resilient)
📚 From Counterfactual Nonfiction
🔍 What If? The World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been
“Counterfactuals remind us that history is not inevitable—it is made by choices, many of them human, and many of them flawed.”
— Robert Cowley, editor
🧠 Virtual History by Niall Ferguson
“To understand what happened, one must first understand what might have happened.”
— (A core justification for alternate history analysis)
Would you like quotes on specific themes like resistance, tyranny, or hope? I can dig up more focused ones.
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