Marc Bloch

“A historical phenomenon can never be understood apart from its moment in time.”

“There is no such thing as a history of a single event. There are only histories of men in society.”

“The sources do not speak for themselves.”

“Every historical work is a choice, a selection, an interpretation.”

“A science is not a collection of results. It is a way of thinking.”

“The past is, by definition, a datum which nothing in the future will change. But the knowledge of the past is a thing in process, which is constantly transforming and perfecting itself.”

“Misunderstanding of the present is the inevitable consequence of ignorance of the past.”

“History is the science of men in time.”

“The faculty of understanding the living is the master quality of the historian.”

“To neglect to organize the past rationally is to deliver it over to the whims of memory.”

“The historian is not the one who knows, but the one who seeks.”

“For the historian, the past is a living thing.”

“The good historian is like the giant of the fairy tale. He knows that wherever he catches the scent of human flesh, there his quarry lies.”

“When all is said and done, a single word, 'understanding,' is the beacon light of our studies.”

“History is, in its essentials, the science of change.”