#historian

People take the longest possible paths, digress to numerous dead ends, and make all kinds of mistakes. Then historians come along and write summaries of this messy, nonlinear process and make it appear like a simple, straight line. ↗

— Dean Kamen

#appear #come #dead #ends #historians

I hope that not only my documentaries, but everybody's documentaries, last. It will really confuse historians in the next century, because they'll have, in addition to all the print material, they'll have all these pictures to look at. ↗

— Frederick Wiseman

#because #century #confuse #documentaries #everybody

Oh, my dear Vimes, history changes all the time. It is constantly being re-examined and re-evaluated, otherwise how would we be able to keep historians occupied? We can't possibly allow people with their sort of minds to walk around with time on their hands. ↗

— Terry Pratchett

#history #change

The man who first gave history a recognized place in science was an ancient historian. ↗

— James H. Breasted

#first #gave #historian #history #man

A couple years ago, the novelist Russell Banks told me he was reading the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. I asked why. He said, 'Because I've always wanted to and am tired of having my reading assigned.' I thought it was a marvelous declaration of independence. ↗

— Richard Russo

#always #am #ancient #asked #assigned

No, this customary aim of research by excavators is completely foreign to the historical work with which I am occupied... my sole and only aim is to be able to establish a historical fact, on which I disagree with some eminent historians and geographers. ↗

— Heinrich Schliemann

#aim #am #completely #customary #disagree

Recent fads in history and biography have increasingly exalted the aridity of chronology and fact, and have, with some valid reason, rejected romanticizing and the presumption of guessing at the inner thoughts of historical figures. Unfortunately, the result has largely been not to demythologize the past, but merely to dehumanize and depersonalize it. As Roger Mudd has pointed out, 'Too many of today's historians [and biographers] ... seem to have forgotten that the writing of history is a literary art. ↗

— Markham Shaw Pyle

#history #writing #art

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

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

To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse. ↗

— Barbara Tuchman

#food #historian #libraries #muse #shelter