The historian ought to be an educated person, writing for other educated people about something which they don't know about, but wish to know about in a way that they can understand.

I think that black Africa is extremely terrifying. Black Africa can become a maelstrom of warring tribes without the outside world needing to feel the need to do anything about it.

I don't think that what's going on in Bosnia is political activity. It's partly political, but it's partly atavistic as well.

It's a necessary quality of a diplomat or a politician that he will compromise. Uncompromising politicians or diplomats get you into the most terrible trouble.

I don't look to find an educated person in the ranks of university graduates, necessarily. Some of the most educated people I know have never been near a university.

Soldiers, when committed to a task, can't compromise. It's unrelenting devotion to the standards of duty and courage, absolute loyalty to others, not letting the task go until it's been done.

The written history of the world is largely a history of warfare, because the states within which we live came into existence largely through conquest, civil strife, or struggles for independence.

The great Chinese classics have always said that it's better not to fight; that the clever man achieves his ends without violence; that a battle delayed is better than a battle fought.

There are certain wicked people in the world that you can't deal with except by force

The revival of Islam dates from the early years of the 20th century. It was brought about by their humiliation, by their sense of how low they'd fallen compared with the West.

A civilised man is someone who has discovered something more satisfying than combat.

That was how it always was with Colleen: No matter how sad she felt, there was always this little bit of hope - like a speck of glitter caught in your eyelash - that never went away, no matter what.

The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.

Heathen, n. A benighted creature who has the folly to worship something that he can see and feel.

timeliness is an enemy to art.

Wherever it goes is my best position. Wherever it goes I am comfortable.

If I could control the behavior of fat guys I would make them ride mopeds more often.

If we are going to be masters of our destiny, we must be masters of the ideas that influence that destiny.

A boy of to-day is affected by every change of tone and gust of opinion, so that he lies even when he desires to speak the truth.

If you are worrying about tomorrow, you can't possibly enjoy today. Think about it: you can't really give God tomorrow; you can give him only what you have, and today is all you have.

You don't want to look too far ahead or get too excited about anything, so I just want to keep doing what I've been doing.