Perhaps nobody has changed the course of history as much as the historians.

Jones’s quip plays on the double meaning of “changed the course of history.” Historians do not merely record events; by selecting sources, framing causes, and narrating outcomes, they shape what later generations understand “history” to be. The line is a wry reminder that historical knowledge is mediated—subject to interpretation, emphasis, and sometimes bias—so the past that circulates in public memory can be as much a product of historians’ storytelling as of the events themselves. It also hints at the power of historiography: reputations rise or fall, nations justify policies, and identities cohere around the versions of the past historians construct.