Stacy Schiff Quotes

I am a historian. I do a lot of research, and I try to get it right.

When I'm working on historical books, I'm much more organized. I usually read about 100 books to get the depth of knowledge I need.

I study history in order to give an interpretation.

As a historian, you can only go as far as the evidence will take you.

I do not start with a full knowledge of the facts; the whole attraction of writing history is to educate myself: it is an exploration into the unknown - 'a journey without maps,' to borrow Graham Greene's phrase.

Every historian discloses a new horizon.

But history is neither watchmaking nor cabinet construction. It is an endeavor toward better understanding.

I believe that historians and analysts of historical events need the authority of facts supplied by living witnesses to the events, which they make their subject.

In history, one gathers clues like a detective, tries to present an honest account of what most likely happened, and writes a narrative according to what we know and, where we aren't absolutely sure, what might be most likely to have happened, within the generally accepted rules of evidence and sources.

I'm a historian in my own mind.

All historians generalize from particulars. And often, if you look at a historian's footnotes, the number of examples of specific cases is very, very small.

As a historian, I love every little detail, but whole long passages about wood paneling and journeys on horseback and every stop at every inn had to go out the window. I decided the history in the books should be like spice in a soup - a little went a long way. Like cilantro.

You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you get that triangulation is through time.

We're uncomfortable about considering history as a science. It's classified as a social science, which is considered not quite scientific.

The task of understanding the past is neverending.

I gave up the notion of writing the life of Joan of Arc, as I found that there was absolutely no new material to be gleaned on her history - in fact, she had been thrashed out.

Historians are not good at hypothetical questions.

Confronted by an unknowable, historians demand evidence, witnesses, corroboration.

I don't normally do pure historical work.

I enjoy the act of research. I'm researching as a means to an end, but I literally just enjoy reading about how people lived in the past and understanding it better.

We need to read history from the source.

We knew in our gut that History needed to be more than a timeline.

I would love to be an historian. I'm a bit of a history geek and love books and programmes on the subject.

I like to think I'm a recovering historian.

History is a tangled skein that one may take up at any point, and break when one has unravelled enough.