Great abilities are not requisite for an Historian; for in historical composition, all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent. He has facts ready to his hand; so there is no exercise of invention. Imagination is not required in any high degree; only about as much as is used in the lower kinds of poetry.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Historians need facts more than creativity.
- In plain terms
- Writing history uses less imagination than poetry.
- What can you take from it?
- Facts matter most in history.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Do facts alone make history?
- What else matters?
Another view
Great historians often use strong narrative skill.
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A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself.
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