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At some time in their careers, most good historians itch to write a history of the world, endeavor to discover what makes humanity the most destructive and creative of species.

Paul Johnson

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Paul Johnson
Age: 96
Born: 1928
Born: November 2
Editor
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Manchester
England
Paul Bede Johnson
History
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Destructive
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Humanity
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More quotes by Paul Johnson

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My grandfather used to say, Learn to like art, music and literature deeply and passionately. They will be your friends when things are bad. It is true: at this time of year, when days are short and dark, and one hardly dares to open the newspapers, I turn, not vainly either, to the great creators of the past for distraction, solace and help.
Paul Johnson
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Human beings are infinitely worth studying, especially the peculiarities that often go along with outstanding gifts.
Paul Johnson
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In the long term, it is desirable that the human race, faced with the prospect of extinction on Earth, should prepare an escape route for itself to another inhabitable planet.
Paul Johnson
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I don't write huge books any more. I used to write 1,000 printed pages, but now I write short books. I did one on Napoleon, 50,000 words - enjoyed doing that. He was a baddie. I did one on Churchill, which was a bestseller in New York, I'm glad to say. 50,000 words. He was a goodie.
Paul Johnson
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Long periods of recession, which tend to be self-perpetuating, are usually ended by war, or by preparations for it.
Paul Johnson
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If anti-Semitism is a variety of racism, it is a most peculiar variety, with many unique characteristics. In my view as a historian, it is so peculiar that it deserves to be placed in a quite different category. I would call it an intellectual disease, a disease of the mind, extremely infectious and massively destructive.
Paul Johnson
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Conservation of energy. Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down.
Paul Johnson
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Scanning the newspapers and absorbing with a mixture of incredulity and indignation the enormities they report, I conclude that what England lacks today is, quite simply, sense.
Paul Johnson
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There are no inevitabilities in history
Paul Johnson
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If we want foxes, to observe and delight in, we must have hunting.
Paul Johnson
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This book is dedicated to the people of America--strong, outspoken, intense in their convictions, sometimes wrong-headed but always generous and brave, with a passion for justice no nation has ever matched.
Paul Johnson
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If I see a door ajar, I push on it to see how far it will open, and if it opens wide I go through it.
Paul Johnson
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As a child I found railroad stations exciting, mysterious, and even beautiful, as indeed they often were.
Paul Johnson
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It takes less than a decade for today's luxury to become a universal necessity.
Paul Johnson
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Democracy has many enemies, and the terrorist is only one of them.
Paul Johnson
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Nothing appeals to intellectuals more than the feeling that they represent 'the people'. Nothing, as a rule, is further from the truth
Paul Johnson
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A Stalin functionary admitted, Innocent people were arrested: naturally - otherwise no one would be frightened. If people were arrested only for specific misdemeanours, all the others would feel safe and so become ripe for treason.
Paul Johnson
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I was very fond of Princess Diana. She used to have me over to lunch to ask my advice. I'd give her good advice, and she'd say: 'I entirely agree. Paul, you're so right.' Then she'd go and do the opposite.
Paul Johnson
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In the past, the U.S. has shown its capacity to reinvent its gifts for leadership. During the 1970s, in the aftermath of the Nixon abdication and the Ford and Carter presidencies, the whole nation peered into the abyss, was horrified by what it saw and elected Ronald Reagan as president, which began a national resurgence.
Paul Johnson
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As the CIA and KGB, like God and Satan, fight Miltonic battles across five continents.
Paul Johnson