Share
×
Inspirational Quotes
Authors
Professions
Topics
Tags
Quote
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
Share
Change background
T
T
T
Change font
Original
TAGS & TOPICS
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
Great
Grandeur
Men
Beer
Wealth
Went
Opinion
Hands
Past
Power
Prestige
More quotes by A. J. P. Taylor
Freedom does not always win. This is one of the bitterest lessons of history.
A. J. P. Taylor
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
Human blunders usually do more to shape history than human wickedness.
A. J. P. Taylor
A racing tipster who only reached Hitler's level of accuracy would not do well for his clients.
A. J. P. Taylor
Knowledge breeds doubt, not certainty, And the more we know the more uncertain we become.
A. J. P. Taylor
If there had been no troublemakers, no Dissenters, we should still be living in caves.
A. J. P. Taylor
The crusade against Communism was even more imaginary than the specter of Communism.
A. J. P. Taylor
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. Taylor
History is not a catalogue but...a convincing version of events.
A. J. P. Taylor
Psychoanalysts believe that the only normal people are those who cause not trouble to either themselves or anyone else.
A. J. P. Taylor
The God of Battles will throw the dice that decide.
A. J. P. Taylor
The present enables us to understand the past, not the other way round.
A. J. P. Taylor
Bismarck fought 'necessary' wars and killed thousands, the idealists of the twentieth century fight 'just' wars and kill millions.
A. J. P. Taylor
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. Taylor
Manchester has everything but good looks..., the only place in England which escapes our characteristic vice of snobbery.
A. J. P. Taylor
The male clerk with his quill pen and copper-plate handwriting had gone for good. The female short-hand typist took his place. It was a decisive moment in women's emancipation.
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
No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic.
A. J. P. Taylor
All other forms of history - economic history, social history, psychological history, above all sociology - seem to me history with the history left out.
A. J. P. Taylor
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.
A. J. P. Taylor