Herodotus says, 'Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects'.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Twain quotes Herodotus to note that timing is often off, and historians must adjust for these gaps.
- In plain terms
- Things rarely happen on time, so historians fix the record.
- What can you take from it?
- Historical records require correction to account for timing errors.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you verify timelines?
- What gets lost in time?
Another view
Correcting history can sometimes introduce the historian's own bias.
More from Mark Twain
Citizenship? We have none! In place of it we teach patriotism which Samuel Johnson said a hundred and forty or a hundred and fifty years ago was the last refug…
Permalink to quote #106 He [Mark Twain] spoke of humor, and thought it must be one of the chief attributes of God. He cited plants and animals that were distinctly humorous in form an…
Permalink to quote #108 But the truth is, that when a Library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, t…
Permalink to quote #105
Related quotes
At present, I am a poet trying to be a soldier. To tell the truth, I am not interested in writing nowadays, except in so far as writing is the expression of so…
Joyce KilmerJoyce Kilmer quote #1 To give an accurate and exhaustive account of that period would need a far less brilliant pen than mine.
Max BeerbohmMax Beerbohm quote #3 Faithfulness to the truth of history involves far more than a research, however patient and scrupulous, into special facts. Such facts may be detailed with the…
Francis ParkmanFrancis Parkman quote #4