#historian

The only business of the historian is to relate things exactly as they are: this he can never do as long as he is afraid ↗

— Lucian of Samosata

#freedom #historian #history #business

I began with the desire to speak with the dead. ↗

— Stephen Greenblatt

#education #historians #history #knowledge #shakespeare

A historian tries to understand what happened, why it happened, what was the context, who did what, and what assumptions led them to act as they did. A historian customarily displays a certain diffidence about trying to influence events, knowing that unanticipated developments often lead to unintended consequences. ↗

— Diane Ravitch

#history #death

Visiting the past is something like visiting a foreign country: they do some things the same and some things differently, but above all else, they make us more aware of what we call 'home. ↗

— John Arnold

#dangerous-games #home

Scientists disagree among themselves but they never fight over their disagreements. They argue about evidence or go out and seek new evidence. Much the same is true of philosophers, historians and literary critics. ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#among #argue #critics #disagree #disagreements

Historians tell the story of the past, novelists the story of the present. ↗

— Edmond de Goncourt

#novelists #past #present #story #tell

History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other. ↗

— Philip Guedalla

#historians #history #history repeats itself #itself #other

No man can be a politician, except he be first a historian or a traveller; for except he can see what must be, or what may be, he is no politician. ↗

— James Harrington

#first #historian #man #may #must

The issue of civil rights was too much for the establishment to handle. One of the chapters of history that's least studied by historians is the 300 to 500 riots in the U.S. between 1965 and 1970. ↗

— Tom Hayden

#chapters #civil #civil rights #establishment #handle

Oh no, I'm not a historian or anything like that. ↗

— Lee Hazlewood

#historian #i #like #oh