Historian Quotes

“It touched me to be trusted with something terrible.”
― Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian

“Study the historian before you begin to study the facts.”
― Edward Hallett Carr, What Is History?

“When history is written as it ought to be written, it is the moderation and long patience of the masses at which men will wonder, not their ferocity.”
― C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution

“The historian is a prophet looking backwards.”
― Friedrich Von Schlegel, Philosophical Fragments

“A pioneer is not someone who makes her own soap. She is one who takes up her burdens and walks toward the future.”
― Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

“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

“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, Lucian's True History

“History and man made each other.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“If you are delighted to be in ancient ruins, you are either a curious historian or a romantic person!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“One thing that I find very weird here in Australia is Latvians in Australia celebrate Latvian traditions by a calendar, not by the seasons as they do in Latvia. It’s a bit strange for me, everyone said a few weeks ago, ‘Merry Christmas,’ in Latvian, or maybe Winterfest, and here I was sweating like a pig saying, ‘Merry Winterfest!’ – Viktor Brenners, 2nd Generation DP”
― Peter Brune, Suffering, Redemption and Triumph: The first wave of post-war Australian immigrants 1945-66

“For ignorance is the first requisite of the historian──ignorance, which simplifies and clarifies, which selects and omits, with a placid perfection that unattainable by the highest art.”
― Lytton Strachey, Eminent Victorians

“This corner of history was as real as the tiled floor under our feet or the wooden tabletop under our fingers. The people to whom it had happened had actually lived and breathed and felt and thought and then died, as we did - as we would.”
― Elizabeth Kostova

“I remembered attending one of Dr. Kerry's lectures, which he had begun by writing, "Who writes history?" on the blackboard. I remembered how strange the question had seemed to me then. My idea of a historian was not human; it was of someone like my father, more prophet than man, whose visions of the past, like those of the future, could not be questioned, or even augmented. Now, as I passed through King's college, in the shadow of the enormous chapel, my old diffidence seemed almost funny. Who writes history? I thought. I do.”
― Tara Westover, Educated

“At ten, I couldn't articulate much but I got the message: to be a true historian, you had to mourn amply and well. (spoken by narrator Ava Bigtree in Swamplandia!)”
― Karen Russell

“I became an historian in order to preserve my own history forever- Dracula.”
― Elizabeth Kostova

“How can I, who have not the strength to hold my own past, hope to save the past of someone else?”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea

“Una sociedad sin erudición histórica es como una persona sin memoria: engañada, confundida y fácilmente explotada.”
― Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

“The historian is never more himself than when he is searching his mind for a general statement that shall in itself give the hint of its own underlying complexity.”
― Herbert Butterfield, The Whig Interpretation of History

“Underneath all that divides us, we share a common humanity. Discovery and the quest for well-being motivate all of us. We continually seek relief from the difficulties of existence, and in so doing, we change the world, hopefully for the better. My vision is that humanity will one day learn to be at peace with itself. I think that can happen only when people have their basic needs met and each is allowed to reach his or her potential.”
― Terry B. Clayton

“When AI finishes taking everyone's career, nobody will be able to derive a personal identity from their job title. Then we will all be hobbyists, and I'm starting early. I am Jarod Kintz, Pickleball Historian.”
― Jarod Kintz, Powdered Saxophone Music

“Given the focus on language, it should come as no surprise that this book deals with what individuals said and published … The new “linguistic” emphasis of modern scholarship has added to our understanding of the past … Throughout, “language” is not recovered divorced from its historical context, but linked to the individuals who used it, and to their (and others’) actions and activities”
― Paul Readman, Land and Nation in England: Patriotism, National Identity, and the Politics of Land, 1880-1914

“Deserve it, then. Take the cold bath bravely. Enjoy what is and not pine for what is not. Take yourself in hand and master yourself. Make yourself do unpleasant things, so as to gain the upper hand of your soul. Be honest, frank and fearless and get some grasp of the real values of life.”
― w.e.b Du Bois.

“I am a historian.”
― Steven Magee

“As an American historian, I will be correcting the historical record for the dangerous DeSoto Solar Farm to be a true, accurate and complete history.”
― Steven Magee

“As a USA historian, it is my job to ensure the USA historical record is accurate in the areas I am knowledgeable in.”
― Steven Magee

“As an American historian, I am required to keep an accurate and truthful historical record.”
― Steven Magee

“One of the things I like about being a video historian is that it takes me to places I would not normally go to.”
― Steven Magee

“Much of my time is spent teaching the internet what to say to people.”
― Steven Magee

“மொழி, இனம், மதம் என்று அனைத்திலும் பன்முகத்தன்மைகொண்ட நிலப்பகுதி இது. இந்தப் பன்முகம்தான் இந்திய தேசியத்தில் பெருமைப்பட வேண்டிய முக்கிய அம்சமாக அமைந்துள்ளது. இந்துத்துவா, ஒரே மதத்தையும் ஒரே மொழியையுமே தேசியமாக முன்வைக்கிறது. இரண்டும் ஒன்றாகாது. காந்தி, நேரு, தாகூர் போன்றோர் முன்னிறுத்திய பன்மைத்துவத்தை நாம் மீட்டெடுக்க வேண்டும்.”
― ராமச்சந்திர குஹா

“A historian who doesn't want to make history is a bad historian.”
― Tamerlan Kuzgov