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The writer may very well serve a movement of history as its mouthpiece, but he cannot of course create it.

Well goodness knows, goodness knows what historians will write.

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.

He could have made it right with the book. But he hasn't. He is a revisionist of history. He has lied.

I cannot be much pleased without an appearance of truth; at least of possibility I wish the history to be natural though the sentiments are refined; and the characters to be probable, though their behaviour is excelling.

History is a set of lies agreed upon.

If I don't tell it all now, the story in the history books will always be imperfect and that would be wrong.

I think I regard any history in quotes, because just like science, we're constantly revising science, we're constantly revising history. There's no question that various victors throughout history have flat out lied about certain events or written themselves into things, and then you come along and you find out that this disproves that.

History is nothing but gossip about the past, with the hope that it might be true.