.

إنّ تَعَذُّرَ المرءِ بالطِّباع الشخصية والنفسية في تبرير أفعالِه (كأن يقول: "أنا غضوبٌ بطبعي" أو "ورثتُ هذه العادة من أبي ولا قدرة لي على تغييرها") هو علامةٌ على ضعف الإرادة وبدائيةِ العقل. ميزةُ الجهاز العصبي هي قدرته على التعلّم من تجارب الذات والغير، وتوظيفِ هذا العِلم لتغيير سلوك الكائن الحي حتى يتكيف أكثر مع بيئته وينجو، بل وربما يزدهر. فالمرءُ الذي إذا انتُقِدَ فاتّقى النّقدَ بالاستتار خلفَ عُذرِ الطباع والصفات والوراثة هو امرؤٌ لا يريد استخدامَ جهازه العصبي، والطينُ الذي هو منه كان أحرى لو وُضِع في أصيصٍ وزُرِعَ آسًا أو حتى بصلًا.

“We could start, perhaps, with the seemingly simple question, What is History? Any thoughts, Webster?”
“History is the lies of the victors,” I replied, a little too quickly.
“Yes, I was rather afraid you’d say that. Well, as long as you remember that it is also the self-delusions of the defeated. Simpson?”
Colin was more prepared than me. “History is a raw onion sandwich, sir.”
“For what reason?”
“It just repeats, sir. It burps. We’ve seen it again and again this year. Same old story, same old oscillation between tyranny and rebellion, war and peace, prosperity and impoverishment.”
“Rather a lot for a sandwich to contain, wouldn’t you say?”
We laughed far more than was required, with an end-of-term hysteria.
“Finn?”
“ ‘History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.’ ”

I survived. “He survived to tell the tale”—that’s what people say, don’t they? History isn’t the lies of the victors, as I once glibly assured Old Joe Hunt; I know that now. It’s more the memories of the survivors, most of whom are neither victorious nor defeated.

— The Sense of an Ending