The Historian's Craft Quotes

“Let us guard against stripping our science of its share of poetry.”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft

“The very names we use to describe ancient ideas or vanished forms of social organization would be quite meaningless if we had not known living men.”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.

“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.”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.

“Thenceforth they thought that, rationally concluded, doubt could become an instrument of knowledge.”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.

“Understanding,' in all honesty, is a word pregnant with difficulties, but also with hope.”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.

“In a word, a historical phenomenon can never be understood apart from its moment in time. This is true of ever evolutionary stage, our own and all others. As the old Arab proverb has it: 'Men resemble their times more than they do their fathers.”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.

“Para quien no sea un tonto de marca mayor, todas las ciencias son interesantes, pero cada sabio solo encuentra una cuyo cultivo le divierte. Descubrirla para consagrarse a ella es propiamente lo q se llama vocación”
― Marc Bloch, Introducción a la Historia

“... in a world which stands upon the threshold of the chemistry of the atom, which is only beginning to fathom the mystery of interstellar space ... this poor world of ours which, however justifiably proud of its science, has created so little happiness for itself ...”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.

“In contrast, historical time is a concrete and living reality with an irreversible onward rush. It is the very plasma in which events are immersed, and the field within which they become intelligible.”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.

“Defender la alegría como una trinchera, defenderla del escándalo y la rutina, de la miseria y los miserables, de las ausencias transitorias y las definitivas”
― Marc Bloch, Introducción a la Historia

“No hay menos belleza en una exacta ecuación q en una frase precisa. Pero cada ciencia tiene su propio lenguaje estético”
― Marc Bloch, Introducción a la Historia

“Detrás de los rasgos sensibles del paisaje, de las herramientas o de las máquinas, detrás de los escritos aparentemente más fríos, y de las instituciones aparentemente más distanciadas de los q las han creado, la historia quiere aprender a los hombres”
― Marc Bloch, Introducción a la Historia

“polymathie”
― Marc Bloch, Apologie pour l'histoire: ou métier d'historien

“I had gone with Henri Pirenne to Stockholm; we had scarcely arrived, when he said to me: 'What shall we go to see first? It seems that there is a new city hall here. Let's start there.' Then, as if to ward of my surprise, he added: 'If I were an antiquarian, I would have eyes only for old stuff, but I am a historian. Therefore, I love life.”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.

“A man can lead a reasonably full life without a family, a fixed local residence, or a religious affiliation, but if he is stateless he is nothing. He has no rights, no security, and little opportunity for a useful career.”
― Joseph Strayer, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.

“¡Es tan fácil gritar: "Al paredón"! No comprendemos nunca bastante. Quien difiere de nosotros, sea extranjero o adversario político, pasa, casi necesariamente, por un ser de malos antecedentes. Aun para conducir las luchas inevitables, sería necesario un poco más de inteligencia en las almas; con más razón para evitarlas, si se está a tiempo. A condición de renunciar a sus falsos aires de arcángel, la historia debe ayudarnos a salir de este mal paso. Es una vasta experiencia de las variedades humanas, un largo encuentro entre los hombres. Tanto la vida como la ciencia tienen el mayor interés en que este encuentro sea fraternal.”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.

“Les méchants faits détruisent les belles théories.”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.

“Há muito tempo, com efeito, nossos grandes precursores, Michelet, Fustel de Coulanges, nos ensinaram a reconhecer: o objeto da história é, por natureza, o homem. Digamos melhor: os homens. Mais que o singular, favorável à abstração, o plural, que é o modo gramatical da relatividade, convém a uma ciência da diversidade. Por trás dos grandes vestígios sensíveis da paisagem, [os artefatos ou as máquinas,] por trás dos escritos aparentemente mais insípidos e as instituições aparentemente mais desligadas daqueles que as criaram, são os homens que a história quer capturar. Quem não conseguir isso será apenas, no máximo, um serviçal da erudição. Já o bom historiador se parece com o ogro da lenda. Onde fareja carne humana, sabe que ali está sua caça.”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.

“Zapewne, gdybyśmy nawet uznali, że historia do niczego poza tym nie służy, należałoby na jej plus zapisać to, że jest bardzo zajmująca (...).”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.

“Un motto, in sintesi, domina e illumina i nostri studi: <>. Non diciamo che il bravo storico è estraneo alle passioni; ha per lo meno quella. Motto, non nascondiamocelo, carico di difficoltà, ma anche di speranze. Soprattutto, motto carico di amicizia. Persino nell'azione, noi giudichiamo troppo. E' comodo gridare <> Non comprendiamo mai abbastanza. Chi è diverso da noi - straniero, avversario politico - passa, quasi necessariamente, per un cattivo. Anche per condurre le lotte che non si possono evitare, un po' più di intelligenza delle anime sarebbe necessaria; a maggior ragione, per evitarle, quando si è ancora in tempo. La storia, purché rinunci alle sue false arie da arcangelo, deve aiutarci a guarire a questo difetto. Essa è una vasta esperienza delle varietà umane, un luogo di incontro fra gli uomini. La vita, come la scienza, ha tutto da guadagnare dal fatto che questo incontro sia fraterno.”
― Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It.