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Bismarck fought 'necessary' wars and killed thousands, the idealists of the twentieth century fight 'just' wars and kill millions.
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
Necessary
Idealists
Fight
Idealist
Century
Twentieth
Millions
Fought
Fighting
Wars
War
Killed
Thousands
Kill
Bismarck
More quotes by A. J. P. Taylor
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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The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long.
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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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A racing tipster who only reached Hitler's level of accuracy would not do well for his clients.
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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.
A. J. P. Taylor
There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the establishment and nothing more corrupting.
A. J. P. Taylor
A master of improvised speech and improvised policies.
A. J. P. Taylor
We learn nothing from history except the infinite variety of men's behaviour.
A. J. P. Taylor
If there had been no troublemakers, no Dissenters, we should still be living in caves.
A. J. P. Taylor
The present enables us to understand the past, not the other way round.
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No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic.
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The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight.
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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.
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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.
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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. 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.
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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. Taylor
The Foreign Office knows no secrets.
A. J. P. Taylor
No war is inevitable until it breaks out.
A. J. P. Taylor
