468 Historical Quotes for You to Enjoy

If you're writing something that's clearly labelled as an alternative history, of course it's perfectly legitimate to play with known historical characters and events, but less so when you're writing an essentially straight historical fiction. Diana Gabaldon

There's always a temptation, I think, among some historical writers to shade things toward the modern point of view. You know, they won't show someone doing something that would have been perfectly normal for the time but that is considered reprehensible today. Diana Gabaldon

Today Time You Think Considered Would Some Shade Someone Temptation Something Point Writers Perfectly Toward Know Always Doing Been Normal Historical Modern Reprehensible View Show Among Things

The Internet has improved a lot in the last few years, but still, you wouldn't want to depend on Web sources for historical analysis. There's just something hard to beat about a book. Diana Gabaldon

In historical and constitutional terms, the recent political status vote in Puerto Rico was a necessary but obviously not decisive step on the road of self-determination leading to full self-government. Dick Thornburgh

Due to the fact that I experienced personally the situation of a political prisoner, I have an historical commitment to all those that were or are prisoners just because they expressed their views, their public opinion, their own opinions. Dilma Rousseff

Commitment Political Prisoner Own Situation Those Fact Because Opinion Opinions Due Prisoners Were Historical Just Experienced Just Because Public Personally Public Opinion Views Expressed

Research is the historical novelist's map, constraint, and purest energy. Donald McCaig

Energy Research Purest Constraint Historical Map Novelist

The historical circumstance of interest is that the tropical rain forests have persisted over broad parts of the continents since their origins as stronghold of the flowering plants 150 million years ago. E. O. Wilson

Rain Plants Broad Circumstance Tropical Over Since Parts Continents Years Years Ago Historical Forests Interest Origins Million Million Years Flowering

The difference between eccentricity and originality in historical studies is often difficult to detect at first encounter. When a radically new interpretation of a large segment of history makes its appearance, time is needed to sift the evidence. Edmund Morgan

Time History First Interpretation Difficult Evidence Sift Detect Eccentricity Segment Studies Between New Makes Encounter Historical Often Difference Radically Large Appearance Originality Needed

There are a lot of historical novelists who do the research about the clothes and maybe even the eating utensils, but they're basically taking modern people and putting them in old drag - it's sort of the 'Gone With the Wind' approach. Edmund White

People Old Wind Clothes Gone Research Approach Eating About Taking Putting Sort Lot Historical Modern Maybe Them Gone With The Wind Who Even Novelists Basically Drag

Writing historical novels can be dangerous. We need to be as accurate and as fair about the historical record as we can be, at the same time as creating our fictional characters and, hopefully, telling a good story. The challenge is weaving the fiction into the history. Edward Rutherfurd

Time Good History Writing Dangerous Challenge Our Characters Telling Hopefully Record Weaving About Good Story Fair Historical Accurate Same Same Time Fiction Fictional Story Creating Novels Need

For novelists, the imagination is everything. The trick is to guide one's imagination using research. I love using old maps. When I wrote my novels on London and New York, I found wonderful historical atlases. Paris has the most lavish maps of all. Edward Rutherfurd

I think I was in the most historical and golden era of track and field. Edwin Moses

Field Think Most Track Track And Field Era Historical Golden

My second novel, 'The Luminaries,' is set in the New Zealand gold rushes of the 1860s, though it's not really a historical novel in the conventional sense. So far, I've been describing it as 'an astrological murder mystery.' Eleanor Catton

Sense Though Mystery New Been Historical Gold Conventional New Zealand Far Really Describing Novel Zealand Second Set

I love historical movies. I want to make a violent medieval epic. Eli Roth

Love Make Historical Want Movies Epic Violent Medieval

Since the rise of Homo sapiens, human beings have been the smartest minds around. But very shortly - on a historical scale, that is - we can expect technology to break the upper bound on intelligence that has held for the last few tens of thousands of years. Eliezer Yudkowsky

Technology Intelligence Few Minds Scale Thousands Thousands Of Years Rise Tens Tens Of Thousands Bound Smartest Since Around Been Years Historical Very Expect Upper Human Human Beings Break Held Sapiens Beings Homo Homo Sapiens Last

I think it's important to recognise that 'The Da Vinci Code' opened up a vast new audience for a general readership interested in historical detective stories and research into history. Elizabeth Kostova

History Important Research Think Recognise Detective Detective Stories General Vast Opened New Readership Audience Historical Up Stories Interested Code

I remember a period where my publisher said to me, 'Look, your historical work is selling much better than your contemporary work, so please give us more historicals.' Emma Donoghue

Work Me Better Remember Please Give More Look Contemporary Period Said Historical Selling Than Where Us Much Your Publisher

If you read any of my books, they tend to have a strong historical perspective. Eric Kandel

You Strong Perspective Books Tend Read Historical Any

This 'historical record' will exist, flawed as it is, in hundreds of years. What will that tell the future? How accurate are we reporting our lives? Eric McCormack

Future Will Our Hundreds Our Lives Hundreds Of Years Tell Record How Years Exist Historical Accurate Reporting Flawed Lives

The psychoanalytic method is essentially a historical method. Erik Erikson

Method Historical Essentially Psychoanalytic

I never recreate dialogue. I have often been asked by people, 'You must have made this up because this is dialogue, right?' Anything in my books that is in quotes comes from some kind of living historical document: a letter, a memoir, a court transcript, a newspaper interview. Erik Larson

You People Made Living Interview Books Kind Must Memoir Some Recreate Never Document Because Court Dialogue Been Historical Up Often Anything Quotes Newspaper Asked Letter Right

The only conclusion you can draw from the real historical movement is that by and large, in day-to-day life, what Lenin called trade union consciousness dominates the working class. I would call it elementary class consciousness of the working class. Ernest Mandel

Life You Class Draw Would Class Consciousness Only Day-To-Day Day-To-Day Life Call Trade Conclusion Trade Union Real Historical Movement Lenin Working Working-Class Union Large Elementary Consciousness

Otherwise we get off the track and we do not fulfil the historical role which we want to fulfil: to help the masses, the exploited and the oppressed of the world, build a classless society, a world socialist federation. Ernest Mandel

World Build Society Otherwise Federation Masses Track Oppressed Off Historical Role Get Want Which Exploited Fulfil Help Socialist

Historical Quotes

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