Foucault's The Historical a priori and the Archive

A quote.

“The archive cannot be described in its totality; and in its presence it is unavoidable.  It emerges in fragments, regions and levels, more fully, no doubt, and with greater sharpness, the greater the time that separates us from it: at most, were it not for the rarity of the documents, the greater chronological distance would be necessary to analyse it.”