"You are in the first place a Christian: I am in the first place a historian. There is a gulf between us."

Leopold von Ranke Literature See all quotes by Leopold von Ranke →

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“To history has been attributed the function to judge the past, to instruct ourselves for the advantage of the future. Such a lofty function the present work does not attempt. It aims merely to show how it actually took place.”

“Rigorous presentation of the facts, however conditional and lacking in beauty they may be, is without question the supreme law.”

“The ultimate aim of historical writing is the bringing before us the whole truth.”

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