Barbara W. Tuchman Quotes
Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.
In individuals as in nations, contentment is silent, which tends to unbalance the historical record.
Nothing so comforts the military mind as the maxim of a great but dead general.
Human beings, like plans, prove fallible in the presence of those ingredients that are missing in maneuvers - danger, death, and live ammunition.
Enormity of the stakes became the new self-hypnosis.
The greatness of the object enabled my mind to support what my strengths of body was scarce equal to.
These cumbersome vehicles were as convenient as if dinosaurs had survived to be used by cowboys for driving cattle
His one essay in love had exhausted his powers in that direction.
England's traditional tolerance was outraged at last.
That he survived, and indeed returned to government, was one of man's occasional triumphs over medicine.
He accomplished wonders of diplomacy on the principle, never give way, and never give offense.
The limitation prompting folly " was an attitude of superiority so dense as to be impenetrable.
He never hears the truth about himself by not wishing to hear it." Pope Alexander
His only weakness was the habit of prophesying war within the next fortnight. George Bernard Shaw
Advice to young Samuel Gompers that might apply in many other areas: "Learn from socialism, but don't join it.
One English nobleman and statesman read and reread a particular work of literature because it was "the only book which allowed him to forget politics.
Our misconception in viewing the past lies in assuming that doubt and fear, permit, protests, violence and hate were not equally present.
In proportion that property is small, the danger of misusing the franchisee is great.
Policy was not reconsidered because the governing group had no habit of purposeful consultation.
Let us retreat when we can, not when we must. Lord Chatham
The fate of warnings in political affairs is to be futile when the recipient wishes otherwise.
Awful momentum makes carrying through easier than calling off folly.
He was always the bridge, between men as well as between ideas.
He had become, through a combination of heritage and character, a keeper of the national conscience.
Society's revenge matched its fright.
To those who think them selves strong, force always seems the easiest solution.
The Englishman, as an American observed, felt himself the best-governed citizen in the world, even when in opposition he believed the incumbents were ruining the country.
Extravagant sartorial display had a purpose. It created the impression of wealth and power on the opponent and pride in the wearer which has been lost sight of in our nervously egalitarian times.
Civilians who volunteer generally wish to escape, not to share, privatizations worse than their own.
Proper society did not think about MAKING money, only about spending it.
As there would be no more inheritance, there would be no more greed. Peter Kropotkin
Talent for oratory can simulate the need for action and even thought.
Clearly prize money received more serious attention than scurvy or signals.
He believed that rank without power was a sham.
Each one of us is serious individually, but together we become frivolous.
He seemed less in need of a secretary than of someone to listen to him.
The love of humanity does not prevent us from being good journalists.
He wanted AFFIRMATION rather than INFORMATION.
One Cardinal entered his cathedral for the first time at his funeral.
Far from a source of suffering, their adopted faith had been a source of power.
The affair made men feel larger than life.
He believed interim reforms were necessary in order to fix the worker for his destiny.
If they are afraid of revision in the laboratory, truth will never be released except by accident.
The art of oratory was considered part of the equipment of a statesman.
If the historian will submit himself to his material instead of trying to impose himself on his material, then the material will ultimately speak to him and supply the answers.
