#historian

To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture. ↗

— Oscar Wilde

#historians #literature #description

What comes to your mind when you think of the word Transylvania, if you ponder it at all? What comes to my mind are mountains of savage beauty, ancient castles, werewolves, and witches - a land of magical obscurity. How, in short, am I to believe I will still be in Europe, on entering such a realm? I shall let you know if it's Europe or fairyland, when I get there. First, Snagov - I set out tomorrow. ↗

— Elizabeth Kostova

#dracula #historian #transylvania #beauty

If you think about it, the historian's task is like that of the detective. ↗

— David Herbert Donald

#detective #historian #like #task #think

I'm a historian in my own mind. ↗

— Quentin Tarantino

#i #mind #my own #own

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

Writers of historical fiction are not under the same obligation as historians to find evidence for the statements they make. For us it is sufficient if what we say can't be disproved or shown to be false. ↗

— Barry Unsworth

#evidence #false #fiction #find #historians

Now, to describe the process of the Wrapped Reichstag, which went from 1971 to '95, there is an entire book about that, because each one of our projects has its own book. The book is not an art book, meaning it's not written by an art historian. ↗

— Christo

#art #because #book #describe #each

It doesn't upset artists to find out that artists used lenses or mirrors or other aids, but it certainly does upset the art historians. ↗

— Chuck Close

#art #artists #certainly #does #find