History isn't what happened, history is just what historians tell us.

Julian Barnes
About This Quote

When someone says that history isn’t what happened, they are being completely honest. History is just what historians tell us. Anything that happened before written records was written down by someone who had to be present for it to happen, so even if they have no firsthand knowledge of the event they will have to look at the written testimony of others for their information. If they can’t trust that testimony, how can you trust them?

Source: A History Of The World In 10A Chapters

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Sometimes I feel like we're a knot, too tangled to be taken apart. - Kiera Cass
  2. Isn’t it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years. - Willa Cather
  3. Learning the truth has become my life's love. - Dan Brown
  4. I am not a victim. No matter what I have been through, I'm still here. I have a history of victory. - Steve Maraboli
  5. It is better to fill your head with useless knowledge than no knowledge at all. - Jim Hinckley
More Quotes By Julian Barnes
  1. How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts? And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account, to remind us that our life is not our life, merely the...
  2. Books say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't. I'm not surprised some people prefer books. Books make sense of life. The only problem is that the lives they make...
  3. Later on in life, you expect a bit of rest, don't you? You think you deserve it. I did, anyway. But then you begin to understand that the reward of merit is not life's business.
  4. Though why should we expect age to mellow us? If it isn't life's business to reward merit, why should it be life's business to give us warm, comfortable feelings towards its end? What possible evolutionary purpose could nostalgia serve?
  5. It's the best way of telling the truth; it's a process of producing grand, beautiful, well-ordered lies that tell more truth than any assemblage of facts. Beyond that … [it's] delight in, and play with, language; also, a curiously intimate way of communicating with people...
Related Topics