The first duty of an historian is to be on guard against his own sympathies.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Hindsight is the historian's necessary vice.
I'm a historian in my own mind.
If you think about it, the historian's task is like that of the detective.
The historian must have some conception of how men who are not historians behave. Otherwise he will move in a world of the dead. He can only gain that conception through personal experience, and he can only use his personal experiences when he is a genius.
A good historian is timeless; although he is a patriot, he will never flatter his country in any respect.
We are not merely historians but also and always citizens.
I feel a great responsibility playing a historical figure because whether they were good or bad, I feel like the person deserves a fair shake. It's like being the executor of their estate in some ways.
The good historian is like the giant of the fairy tale. He knows that wherever he catches the scent of human flesh, there his quarry lies.
A historian is battling all the time to remember as much as possible.
The duty of a historian is simply to understand and then convey that understanding, no more than that.