Quote

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

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

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
Seems
Psychological
Forms
Seem
Economic
History
Social
Left
Form
Sociology

More quotes by A. J. P. Taylor

Image
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
Image
The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
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
Image
History is the great propagator of doubt.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
Though the object of being a Great Power is to be able to fight a Great War, the only way of remaining a Great Power is not to fight one.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
Knowledge breeds doubt, not certainty, And the more we know the more uncertain we become.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
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
Image
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
Image
The Foreign Office knows no secrets.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
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?
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
American statesmen might like some Europeans more than others and even detect quaint resemblances to their own outlook but they no more committed themselves to a particular group or country than a nineteenth-century missionary committed himself to the African tribe in which he happened to find himself.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
The crusade against Communism was even more imaginary than the specter of Communism.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
Like most of those who study history, he (Napoleon III) learned from the mistakes of the past how to make new ones.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
The present enables us to understand the past, not the other way round.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
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.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
If men are to respect each other for what they are, they must cease to respect each other for what they own.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
Perfect soldier, perfect gentleman never gave offence to anyone not even the enemy.
A. J. P. Taylor
Image
A master of improvised speech and improvised policies.
A. J. P. Taylor