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George VI in the conventional parlance was a Good King who sacrificed his life to his sense of duty. If we are to have monarchs it would be hard to find a better one.

A. J. P. Taylor

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A. J. P. Taylor
Age: 84 †
Born: 1906
Born: March 25
Died: 1990
Died: September 7
Historian
Historian Of The Modern Age
Journalist
University Teacher
Alan John Percivale Taylor
Better
Monarchs
Find
Sacrificed
Hard
Conventional
Good
George
Would
King
Life
Kings
Duty
Sense
Parlance

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Lenin was the first to discover that capitalism 'inevitably' caused war and he discovered this only when the First World War was already being fought. Of course he was right. Since every great state was capitalist in 1914.
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If there had been no troublemakers, no Dissenters, we should still be living in caves.
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The Foreign Office knows no secrets.
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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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Fascism was little more than terrorist rule by corrupt gangsters. Mussolini was not corrupt himself but he did nothing except to rage impotently.
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The God of Battles will throw the dice that decide.
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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.
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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.
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Freedom does not always win. This is one of the bitterest lessons of history.
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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.
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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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I was a narrative historian, believing more and more as I matured that the first function of the historian was to answer the child's question, What happened next?
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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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Conformity may give you a quiet life it may even bring you to a University Chair. But all change in history, all advance, comes from the nonconformists. If there had been no trouble-makers, no Dissenters, we should still be living in caves.
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History is the great propagator of doubt.
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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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Manchester has everything but good looks..., the only place in England which escapes our characteristic vice of snobbery.
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When I write I have no loyalty except to historical truth as I see it and care no more about British achievements and mistakes than any other.
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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.
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A master of improvised speech and improvised policies.
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