The historian is, by definition, absolutely incapable of observing the facts which he examines.
Marc BlochRead
But history is neither watchmaking nor cabinet construction. It is an endeavor toward better understanding.
Interpretation
History is about gaining insights rather than just constructing facts.
In this quote, Marc Bloch emphasizes that the study of history is not merely a mechanical process of assembling facts or artifacts, like building a cabinet or crafting a watch. Instead, it is an intellectual endeavor aimed at fostering a deeper comprehension of human experiences, contexts, and the interconnected nature of events over time. History requires interpretation, reflection, and understanding, highlighting its dynamic and complex character.
In practice
In a lecture on the importance of historical context during discussions on current events.
The historian is, by definition, absolutely incapable of observing the facts which he examines.
The truth of Zen, just a little bit of it, is what turns one's humdrum life, a life of monotonous, uninspiring commonplaceness, into one of art, full of genuine inner creativity.
Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's cause.
Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.
My mother took us to services at the Episcopal church. Yet she always said that God was not just inside the four walls of a house of worship, but everywhere - in the rising sun over Camelback Mountain in Phoenix, a splash of water along the nearby Salt or Verde rivers, or clouds driving over the Estrella Mountains, south of downtown. I've always thought of God in those terms.
Away with the cant of 'Measures not men!'-the idle supposition that it is the harness and not the horses that draw the chariot along.
When you deprive people of their right to live in dignity, to hope for a better future, to have control over their lives, when you deprive them of that choice, then you expect them to fight for these rights.
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