"The historian is, by definition, absolutely incapable of observing the facts which he examines."

“Marc Bloch has been a source of inspiration...one way to give some indicaion of my reaction to his work is to provide my thoughts in different decades to his work for...he meant something different to me in different phases of my work and my understanding of what he was saying has shifted considerably.”

“But history is neither watchmaking nor cabinet construction. It is an endeavour toward better understanding.”

“There is no true understanding without a certain range of comparison.”

“Thenceforth they thought that, rationally concluded, doubt could become an instrument of knowledge.”

“The good historian is like the giant of the fairy tale. He knows that wherever he catches the scent of human flesh, there his quarry lies.”

“Misunderstanding of the present is the inevitable consequence of ignorance of the past. But a man may wear himself out just as fruitlessly in seeking to understand the past, if he is totally ignorant of the present...This faculty of understanding the living is, in very truth, the master quality of the historian.”