“History is always the interpretation of the present”

“History, which interprets the past to understand the present and confront the future is the least rewarding discipline for a dying species. ”

“What are we if we are not products of our history? History is not in our past but forms us in the present. And how histories are written or interpreted depends on what we do today.”

“History always constitutes the relation between a present and its past. Consequently fear of the present leads to mystification of the past”

“Who says history is stagnant? For a historian, facts do not change; it is the way we look at things, our interpretations, that are always changing. This is what makes history exciting - that we can always find something new in what is old.”

“History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”