It is only the strong who are strengthened by suffering; the weak are made weaker.

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.

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

There's only a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, but there's no road leading from the ridiculous to the sublime.

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.

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.