A. J. P. Taylor Quotes and Sayings - Page 1
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“If men are to respect each other for what they are, they must cease to respect each other for what they own.”
-- A. J. P. TaylorSource : 'Politicians, Socialism and Historians' (1980) ch. 33
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“If there had been a strong democratic sentiment in Germany, Hitler would never have come to power . [Germans] deserved what they got when they went round crying for a hero.”
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“The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight.”
-- A. J. P. TaylorSource : A J P Taylor (1974). “The First World War: An Illustrated History”, p.15, Penguin UK
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“No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic.”
-- A. J. P. Taylor -
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“Human blunders usually do more to shape history than human wickedness.”
-- A. J. P. TaylorSource : 'The Origins of the Second World War' (1961) ch. 10
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“There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the establishment and nothing more corrupting.”
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“The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long.”
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“In my opinion, most of the great men of the past were only there for the beer - the wealth, prestige and grandeur that went with the power.”
-- A. J. P. Taylor -
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“Manchester has everything but good looks..., the only place in England which escapes our characteristic vice of snobbery.”
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“Though the object of being a Great Power is to be able to fight a Great War, the only way of remaining a Great Power is not to fight one.”
-- A. J. P. TaylorSource : A.J.P. Taylor (1996). “Origin Of The Second World War”, p.18, Simon and Schuster
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“History gets thicker as it approaches recent times: more people, more events, and more books written about them. More evidence is preserved, often, one is tempted to say, too much. Decay and destruction have hardly begun their beneficent work.”
-- A. J. P. Taylor -
“In 1917 European history, in the old sense, came to an end. World history began. It was the year of Lenin and Woodrow Wilson, both of whom repudiated the traditional standards of political behaviour. Both preached Utopia, Heaven on Earth. It was the moment of birth for our contemporary world.”
-- A. J. P. TaylorSource : "The First World War". Book by A. J. P. Taylor , p. 165, 1963.
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“Like most of those who study history, he (Napoleon III) learned from the mistakes of the past how to make new ones.”
-- A. J. P. TaylorSource : 'Listener' 6 June 1963
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“One of the penalties of being president of the United States is that you must subsist for four years without drinking anything except Californian wine.”
-- A. J. P. TaylorSource : Christopher Morley (1920). “Hide and Seek”
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“Rather an end in horror, than horror without end. He could not condemn principles he might need to invoke and apply later. The wolf cannot help having been created by God as he is, but we shoot him all the same if we have to. The great player in diplomacy, as in chess, asks the question,Does this improve me?, not look at the possible fringe benefits If you can't have what you like, you must like what you have.”
-- A. J. P. Taylor -
“There is nothing nicer than nodding off while reading. Going fast asleep and then being woken by the crash of the book on the floor, then saying to yourself, well it doesn't matter much. An admirable feeling.”
-- A. J. P. Taylor -
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“Bismarck fought 'necessary' wars and killed thousands, the idealists of the twentieth century fight 'just' wars and kill millions.”
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“History is not a catalogue but...a convincing version of events.”
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“History is the great propagator of doubt.”
-- A. J. P. Taylor -
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“Freedom does not always win. This is one of the bitterest lessons of history.”
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“A racing tipster who only reached Hitler's level of accuracy would not do well for his clients.”
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“The crusade against Communism was even more imaginary than the specter of Communism.”
-- A. J. P. TaylorSource : Origins of the Second World War (1962) ch. 2
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“No war is inevitable until it breaks out.”
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“Perfect soldier, perfect gentleman never gave offence to anyone not even the enemy.”
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“Psychoanalysts believe that the only "normal" people are those who cause not trouble to either themselves or anyone else.”
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“A master of improvised speech and improvised policies.”
-- A. J. P. TaylorSource : A. J. P. Taylor (2001). “English History 1914-1945”, p.5, Oxford Paperbacks
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“In my opinion we learn nothing from history except the infinite variety of men's behaviour. We study it, as we listen to music or read poetry, for pleasure, not for instruction”
-- A. J. P. TaylorSource : "The Trouble Makers: Dissent over Foreign Policy, 1792-1939". Book by A. J. P. Taylor, "The Radical Tradition: Fox, Paine, and Cobbett", p 34, 1957.
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“The present enables us to understand the past, not the other way round.”
-- A. J. P. TaylorSource : "The Trouble Makers: Dissent over Foreign Policy, 1792-1939". Book by A. J. P. Taylor, 1957.
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“American statesmen might like some Europeans more than others and even detect quaint resemblances to their own outlook; but they no more committed themselves to a particular group or country than a nineteenth-century missionary committed himself to the African tribe in which he happened to find himself.”
-- A. J. P. Taylor
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