The talent of historians lies in their creating a true ensemble out of facts which are but half true.
Interpretation
Historians craft narratives from incomplete truths, highlighting their skill in interpretation.
This quote by Ernest Renan emphasizes the role of historians in shaping our understanding of the past. It suggests that while historical facts may be only partially accurate, it is the historian's talent and creativity that allow them to weave these fragments into a coherent and insightful narrative, thus contributing to our collective memory and knowledge of history.
In practice
This quote can be used in a history class to discuss the subjectivity of historical narratives.
None of the miracles with which ancient histories are filled, occurred under scientific conditions. Observation never once contradicted, teaches us that miracles occur only in periods and countries in which they are believed in and before persons disposed to believe in them.
Man makes holy what he believes as he makes beautiful what he loves.
Forgetfulness, and I would even say historical error, are essential in the creation of a nation.
When people complain of life, it is almost always because they have asked impossible things of it.
He whom God has touched will always be a being apart: he is, whatever he may do, a stranger among men; he is marked by a sign.
Let us remember that sorrow alone is the creator of great things.
It is to be remarked that a good many people are born curiously unfitted for the fate waiting them on this earth.
Space. The continual becoming: invisible fountain from which all rhythms flow and to which they must pass. Beyond time or infinity
It was that white cloak that soiled me, not the other way around.
I was a man of the earth, precisely as I had dreamed I would be.
How smart does a chimpanzee have to be before killing him constitutes murder?
The goal of life is not to have our lives mean something to ourselves. The goal of life is to have our lives mean something to others.
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