From depicting the past, so goes the suspicion, it is a short step to glorifying the past.

Both the historian and the novelist view history as the struggle of a tiny minority, able and determined to make judgments, which is up against a vast and densely packed majority of the blind, who are led by their instincts and unable to think for themselves.

What is a historian, anyway? It is someone who uses facts to record the development of humanity.

Asking the author of historical novels to teach you about history is like expecting the composer of a melody to provide answers about radio transmission.

I have always made an effort to render every detail of my reality with the greatest accuracy; but I have never paid attention to whether my presentation of historical facts was an exact one.

Ever since my youth it has disturbed me that of the literary works that survived their own epoch, so many dealt with historical rather than contemporary subjects.

An action doesn't have to be wrong just because it is not logical. It doesn't have to be right just because it has its logic.