The same contingencies of time and space that force a statesman or soldier to make decisions, impel the historian, though with less urgency, to make up his mind.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Often the presence of mind and energy of a person remote from the spotlight decide the course of history for centuries to come.
The offhand decision of some commonplace mind high in office at a critical moment influences the course of events for a hundred years.
History is a tool used by politicians to justify their intentions.
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 key goal for an author of history is to persuade his or her readers to forget what they know and to relive the world as it unfolded for characters of the time - with outcomes uncertain.
The way you 'take history' is also a way of 'making history.'
The study of history requires investigation, imagination, empathy, and respect. Reverence just doesn't enter into it.
The essence of statesmanship is not a rigid adherence to the past, but a prudent and probing concern for the future.
If you think about it, the historian's task is like that of the detective.
The duty of a historian is simply to understand and then convey that understanding, no more than that.