“History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are. ”

“We have just begun to navigate a strange region; we must expect to encounter strange adventures, strange perils.”

“It's all history out there, Clemens. Your history, my history. You and me, boy, not dates and things. You and me. That's what history is all about. How we came to be here, in the way we are, the clothes we wear.”

“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.”

“The history of science, like the history of all human ideas, is a history of irresponsible dreams, of obstinacy, and of error. But science is one of the very few human activities — perhaps the only one — in which errors are systematically criticized and fairly often, in time, corrected. This is why we can say that, in science, we often learn from our mistakes, and why we can speak clearly and sensibly about making progress there.”

“Why are we learning about the past, when this is History?”