“History is written by the survivors, a narrative they compose to explain events to themselves. So the historicity of journals like this one—their accuracy and authenticity—is a function of the reliability of the narrator.”

“History is written for the purpose of narration and not in order to give proof.”
Historia et scribitur ad narrandum non ad probandum.

“Myth is much more important and true than history. History is just journalism and you know how reliable that is.”

“Written history may, in the course of its narrative, use some of the laws established by the various sciences, but its own task remains that of relating the essential sequence of historical action and, qua history, to tell what happened, not why.”

“History is opaque. You see what comes out, not the script that produces events, […] The generator of historical events is different from the events themselves, much as the minds of the gods cannot be read just by witnessing their deeds.”

“The dignity of history consists in reciting events with truth and accuracy, and in presenting human agents and their actions in an interesting and instructive form. The first element in history, therefore, is truthfulness; and this truthfulness must be displayed in a concrete form.”

“It would be absurd for me or any other editor to review the authenticity or accuracy of stories that are nominated for prizes.”

“The aim of every authentic artist is not to conform to the history of art but to release himself from it, in order to replace it with his own history. However the historical pattern is drawn, it will not fit the developing sensibility of the individual.”

“Perfection belongs to narrated events, not to those we live.”

“Fate is a quantity very much like TV: an unstoppable narrative, written, produced and directed by somebody else.”