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Of all the ills that our poor ... society is heir to, the focal one, it seems to me, from which so much of our uneasiness and confusion derive, is the absence of standards.

Barbara Tuchman

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Barbara Tuchman
Confusion
Absence
Standards
Focal
Poor
Uneasiness
Society
Heir
Seems
Ills
Much
Heirs
Derive

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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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satire is a wrapping of exaggeration around a core of reality.
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Nothing is more satisfying than to write a good sentence. It is no fun to write lumpishly, dully, in prose the reader must plod through like wet sand. But it is a pleasure to achieve, if one can, a clear running prose that is simple yet full of surprises. This does not just happen. It requires skill, hard work, a good ear, and continued practice.
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If it is not profitable for the common good that authority should be retained, it ought to be relinquished.
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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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To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse.
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Vainglory, however, no matter how much medieval Christianity insisted it was a sin, is a motor of mankind, no more eradicable than sex.
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No female iniquity was more severely condemned than the habit of plucking eyebrows and the hairline to heighten the forehead.
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To put away one's own original thoughts in order to take up a book is a sin against the Holy Ghost.
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When truth and reason cannot be heard, then must presumption rule.
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Nothing sickens me more than the closed door of a library.
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To gain victory over the flesh was the purpose of fasting and celibacy, which denied the pleasures of this world for the sake of reward in the next.
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To be right and overruled is not forgiven to persons in responsible positions.
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Wooden-headedness, the source of self-deception, is a factor that plays a remarkably large role in government. It consists in assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts.
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