True enough, the country is calm. Calm as a morgue or a grave, would you not say?

True enough, the country is calm. Calm as a morgue or a grave, would you not say?

Qualities absolutely necessary for a historian: (1) Imagination. (2) Prejudice. (3) The power of writing your own biography at the read more

Qualities absolutely necessary for a historian: (1) Imagination. (2) Prejudice. (3) The power of writing your own biography at the same time.

Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will read more

Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.

The causes of events are ever more interresting than the events themselves.

The causes of events are ever more interresting than the events themselves.

It is sometimes very hard to tell the difference between history and the smell of skunk.

It is sometimes very hard to tell the difference between history and the smell of skunk.

Any event, once it has occurred, can be made to appear inevitable by a competent historian.

Any event, once it has occurred, can be made to appear inevitable by a competent historian.

The past grows gradually around one, like a placenta for dying.

The past grows gradually around one, like a placenta for dying.

History is the study of lies, anyway, because no witness ever recalls events with total accuracy, not even eyewitnesses.

History is the study of lies, anyway, because no witness ever recalls events with total accuracy, not even eyewitnesses.

Many are always praising the by-gone time, for it is natural that the old should extol the days of their read more

Many are always praising the by-gone time, for it is natural that the old should extol the days of their youth; the weak, the time of their strength; the sick, the season of their vigor; and the disappointed, the spring-tide of their hopes.