'Neither the historian nor the cartographer can ever reproduce the reality they are trying to communicate to the reader of books or maps; they can but give a plan, a series of indications, of this reality. There are contrasting schemes for choosing from enormous numbers of geographic details. You may have a map in which every feature that can be named, every hill, brook, crossroads, is crowded in; or you may have a map in which many details are omitted in the effort to show the reader the lay of the land, the shape of the mountain systems, the relations of drainage, relief, communications, and so on. Both kinds are useful, depending on the needs of the user.'

ATTRIBUTION: Crane Brinton (1898–1968), U.S. historian, educator. The Shaping of Modern Thought, ch. 1, Prentice-Hall (1963), 2nd ed..