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# Archives look passive only after their decisions...
> Archives look passive only after their decisions have become invisible. Canons look inevitable only after everyone who fought over their composition is dead.
**Source:** [[articles/war with empire/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]], [[working/authorship-west-extraction-markup-20260922/postimages/articles/war with empire/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]], [[working/authorship-west-reminder-links-repair-20260922/postimages/articles/war with empire/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]], [[working/authorship-west-reminder-links-repair-20260922/preimages/articles/war with empire/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]]
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“Archives look passive only after their decisions have become invisible. Canons look inevitable only after everyone who fought over their composition is dead.”
— Bryant McGill
https://bryantmcgill.com/quotes/quotes-archives-look-passive-over-composition-dead
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