The first law for an historian is that he should never dare utter an untruth. The second is that he shall suppress nothing that is true. Moreover, there shall be no suspicion of partiality in his writing, or of malice. Cervantes, Don Quixote, pt. H. G. Wells, The Outline of History, chapter 40.
History is little else than a picture of human crimes and misfortunes.
Voltaire, L'Ingenu, chapter 10. Abinger Harvest, 1936. Every action of theirs, that seems to them an act of their own free will, is in an historical sense not free at all, but in bondage to the whole course of previous history, and predestined from all eternity. The subject of history is the life of peoples and of humanity. To catch and pin down in words that is, to describe directly the life, not only of humanity, but even of a single people, appears to be impossible.