Marc Bloch quotes

“But history is neither watchmaking nor cabinet construction. It is an endeavor toward better understanding.”
-- Marc Bloch

Source : Marc Bloch (1992). “The Historian's Craft”, p.10, Manchester University Press

#History Quotes #Understanding Quotes #Cabinets Quotes

“History is, in its essentials, the science of change. It knows and it teaches that it is impossible to find two events that are ever exactly alike, because the conditions from which they spring are never identical.”
-- Marc Bloch

#Spring Quotes #Two Quotes #History Quotes

“Thenceforth they thought that, rationally concluded, doubt could become an instrument of knowledge.”
-- Marc Bloch

Source : "The Historian's Craft". Book by Marc Bloch, p. 36, 1949.

#Doubt Quotes #Instruments Quotes

“The historian is, by definition, absolutely incapable of observing the facts which he examines.”
-- Marc Bloch

Source : Marc Bloch (1992). “The Historian's Craft”, p.40, Manchester University Press

#Definitions Quotes #Facts Quotes #Historian Quotes

“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

Source : Marc Bloch (1992). “The Historian's Craft”, p.22, Manchester University Press

#Lying Quotes #Giants Quotes #Scent Quotes

“The nature of our intelligence is such that it is stimulated far less by the will to know than by the will to understand.”
-- Marc Bloch

Source : Marc Bloch (1992). “The Historian's Craft”, p.8, Manchester University Press

“If the English language had been properly organized ... then there would be a word which meant both 'he' and 'she', and I could write, 'If John or Mary comes heesh will want to play tennis', which would save a lot of trouble.”

“I know that history is simultaneously a bloody mess and a collection of feats so inspiring and amazing they make you proud to share the same DNA structure with the rest of humanity. I know you'd better focus on the good stuff or you're screwed.”

“Rather an end in horror, than horror without end. He could not condemn principles he might need to invoke and apply later. The wolf cannot help having been created by God as he is, but we shoot him all the same if we have to. The great player in diplomacy, as in chess, asks the question,Does this improve me?, not look at the possible fringe benefits If you can't have what you like, you must like what you have.”

“The male clerk with his quill pen and copper-plate handwriting had gone for good. The female short-hand typist took his place. It was a decisive moment in women's emancipation.”

“We, while noting many things amiss about Victorian society, more often sense them judging us.”

“The past actually happened. History is what someone took the time to write down.”

“The Universal Zulu Nation stands to acknowledge wisdom, understanding, freedom, justice, and equality, peace, unity, love, and having fun, work, overcoming the negative through the positive, science, mathematics, faith, facts, and the wonders of God, whether we call him Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh, or Jah.”

Source : Interview with Nathan Rabin, www.avclub.com. March 2, 2005.

“I was looking for the people who were making the music inside the cabinet. I would look in there and see if I could find somebody who was making all this wonderful music.”

“I am accordingly ready; I have pressed as many Cabinet papers into trunks as to fill one carriage; our private property must be sacrificed, as it is impossible to procure wagons for its transportation.”

Source : Dolley Madison (1886). “Memoirs and Letters of Dolly Madison: Wife of James Madison, President of the United States”, Boston ; New York, Houghton, Mifflin

“Matte or satin sheen scuffs up very easily. So, unless you have it professionally done, definitely paint shelves or cabinets with something with a higher sheen.”