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The appetite for power is old and irrepressible in humankind, and in its action almost always destructive.

Barbara Tuchman

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Barbara Tuchman
Appetite
Destructive
Almost
Action
Power
Always
Irrepressible
Humankind

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One constant among the elements of 1914—as of any era—was the disposition of everyone on all sides not to prepare for the harder alternative, not to act upon what they suspected to be true.
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The nastiness of women [in the 14th century] was generally perceived at the close of life when a man began to worry about hell, and his sexual desire in any case fading.
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Fateful moments tend to evoke grandeur of speech, especially in French.
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In the United States we have a society pervaded from top to bottom by contempt for the law.
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Modern historians have suggested that in his last years he (Richard II) was overtaken by mental disease, but that is only a modern view of the malfunction common to 14th century rulers: inability to inhibit impulse.
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More than a code of manners in war and love, Chivalry was a moral system, governing the whole of noble life.
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Government remains the paramount area of folly because it is there that men seek power over others - only to lose it over themselves.
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To be a bestseller is not necessarily a measure of quality, but it is a measure of communication.
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Human behavior is timeless.
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When every autumn people said it could not last through the winter, and when every spring there was still no end in sight, only the hope that out of it all some good would accrue to mankind kept men and nations fighting. When at last it was over, the war had many diverse results and one dominant one transcending all others: disillusion.
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To be right and overruled is not forgiven to persons in responsible positions.
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satire is a wrapping of exaggeration around a core of reality.
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The fleet sailed to its war base in the North Sea, headed not so much for some rendezvous with glory as for rendezvous with discretion.
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No nation in the world has so many drastic problems squeezed into so small a space, under such urgent pressure of time and heavy burden of history, as Israel.
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Books are humanity in print.
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One must stop conducting research before one has finished. Otherwise, one will never stop and never finish.
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Honor wears different coats to different eyes.
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If power corrupts, weakness in the seat of power, with its constant necessity of deals and bribes and compromising arrangements,corrupts even more.
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Belgium, where there occurred one of the rare appearances of the hero in history, was lifted above herself by the uncomplicated conscience of her King and, faced with the choice to acquiesce or resist, took less than three hours to make her decision, knowing it might be mortal.
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Strong prejudices in an ill-formed mind are hazardous to government, and when combined with a position of power even more so.
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