Historians tell the story of the past, novelists the story of the present.

Quote by Edmond De Goncourt

Topics: Historians Quotes

People don't like the true and simple; they like fairy tales and humbug.

People don't like the true and simple; they like fairy tales and humbug.

Debauchery is perhaps an act of despair in the face of infinity.

Debauchery is perhaps an act of despair in the face of infinity.

The newspaper is the natural enemy of the book, as the whore is of the...

The newspaper is the natural enemy of the book, as the whore is of the...

Barbarism is needed every four or five hundred years to bring the world back to...

Barbarism is needed every four or five hundred years to bring the world back to...

If there is a God, atheism must seem to Him as less of an insult...

If there is a God, atheism must seem to Him as less of an insult...

A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world.

A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world.

That which, perhaps, hears more nonsense than anything in the world, is a picture in...

That which, perhaps, hears more nonsense than anything in the world, is a picture in...

Man is a mind betrayed, not served, by his organs.

Man is a mind betrayed, not served, by his organs.

The English are crooked as a nation and honest as individuals. The contrary is true...

The English are crooked as a nation and honest as individuals. The contrary is true...

A poet is a man who puts up a ladder to a star and climbs...

A poet is a man who puts up a ladder to a star and climbs...

Laughter is the mind's intonation. There are ways of laughing which have the sound of...

Laughter is the mind's intonation. There are ways of laughing which have the sound of...

If there is a God, atheism must seem to Him as less of an insult...

If there is a God, atheism must seem to Him as less of an insult...

Genius is the talent of a person who is dead.

Genius is the talent of a person who is dead.

As a general truth, it is safe to say that any picture that produces a...

As a general truth, it is safe to say that any picture that produces a...

To call war the soil of courage and virtue is like calling debauchery the soil...

To call war the soil of courage and virtue is like calling debauchery the soil...

Today I begin to understand what love must be, if it exists... When we are...

Today I begin to understand what love must be, if it exists... When we are...

I think there's a tide that tends to carry historians back to the past.

I think there's a tide that tends to carry historians back to the past.

To write history is so difficult that most historians are forced to make concessions to...

To write history is so difficult that most historians are forced to make concessions to...

You're not a historian, but most historians will tell you that they make very discrete...

You're not a historian, but most historians will tell you that they make very discrete...

The great religious historian, Eusebius, ingenuously remarks that in his history he carefully omitted whatever...

The great religious historian, Eusebius, ingenuously remarks that in his history he carefully omitted whatever...