A. J. P. Taylor, the celebrated historian, and wordsmith, has gifted us with a collection of quotes that transcend time and place.
These pearls of wisdom capture the essence of his historical brilliance and astute observations of the world’s ever-changing landscape.
In this article, we embark on a journey through A. J. P. Taylor’s insightful quotes serve as a testament to his enduring influence on history, politics, and the human experience.
Delve into the profound reflections of this remarkable historian as we explore his thoughts and the enduring relevance of his words.
A. J. P. Taylor Quotes
-The campaign against Communism had been much more unreal as compared to the threat imposed by Communism.
-In my opinion, the majority of the affluent men of the previous years were there only for the beer – the prestige, wealth, and grandeur that you can consider along with power.
-The underlying cause is definitely economic irrespective of what political reasons are shown for war.
-You cannot tell that any war is evitable unless it finally breaks out.
-The huge armies which were activated to provide security and also preserve peace carried the countries to war by applying their personal weight.
-You cannot say that anything is evitable until it finally happens.
-The blunders made by human beings typically are more responsible for shaping history as compared to the wickedness of humans.
-The most significant issue regarding old age happens to be the fact that it might continue for an excessive span of time.
-One of the greatest problems regarding old age is the fact that it might go on for quite some time.
-A master of spontaneous policies as well as spontaneous speech.
-Any racing tipster who has been able to reach the accuracy level of Hitler will not be able to do well for his customers.
-According to the psychoanalysts, only those individuals can be considered to be normal and do not cause any trouble to either themselves or anybody else.
-There is nothing more debasing in life as compared to making amity with the Establishment.
-Similar to all those who are in the habit of studying history, Napoleon III was able to learn from the errors of the previous days on how to prepare innovative ones.
-It does not matter what political reasons are cited for war; the fundamental reason is definitely economical.
-As compared to the menace of communism, the campaign against Communism was much more creative in nature.
-One can consider him to be a master of improvised policies and also improvised speech.
-The dice will be from the God of Battles, which will help to decide …
-The Foreign Office does not know any secret.
-Knowledge is able to breed doubt and not certainty. And the thing is that we become more uncertain when we come to know more.
-History will not teach us anything apart from the unending variety of the behavior of men.
-We would have been residing in caves in case there would have been no troublemakers out there.
-A perfect gentleman and a perfect soldier will not give offense to anybody, including the enemy as well.
-Freedom is not going to win at all times. This happens to be one of the most important historical lessons out there.
-History can be considered to be a significant communicator of doubt.
-Bismarck was responsible for fighting some necessary wars and killing thousands of people; the idealists of the last century fought “simple” wars and killed numerous people.
-Every form of history, whether it is social, economic history, physiological history, or sociology, is happier to me, history with all the history left out.
-One cannot consider history to be a catalog, but it is actually a resounding version of different events.
-Manchester is known to have everything except a pretty appearance, and it is the only location in England that goes past the typical vice of arrogance.
-As implied by many individuals, history cannot be considered to be one more name for the past. History happens to be the name of the stories regarding the past.
-We are able to comprehend the past because of the present, and not vice versa.
-Although the primary target of becoming a Great Power will be to combat a Great War, the only way to remain as a Great Power will be to not combat one.
-You might be provided with a quiet life by conformity. However, every modification in history and all that advances is derived from nonconformists.
-In case individuals respect one another for what they actually happen to be, it is imperative for them to stop respecting one another for what is owned by them.
A. J. P. Taylor Sayings
“History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.”
“War solves no problems. It merely creates new ones.”
“The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long.”
“The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight.”
“History is the best antidote to delusions of omnipotence and omniscience.”
“When people argue, ‘Everything is relative,’ they only prove that they cannot think.”
“The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.”
“The Second World War is the greatest drama in human history, the biggest war ever and a true battle of good and evil.”
“Television is the most immediate medium, and therefore the most powerful.”
“One problem with being a historian is that you always know how the story ends.”
“Democracy means government by discussion but it is only effective if you can stop people talking.”
“The only lesson of history is that there are no definitive lessons.”
“The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.”
“For good or for ill, air mastery is today the supreme expression of military power and fleets and armies, however vital and important, must accept a subordinate rank.”
“It’s one of the ironies of history that Calvin, who burned Servetus at the stake, should himself have been attacked by the civil power in Geneva.”
“The history of the world is the history of a few people who had faith in themselves.”
“The Second World War ended in victory and the triumph of liberty. It was won by the great western democracies with the active support of the peoples of enslaved Europe.”
“The main difference between men and the animals is that men are garrulous, and the animals keep their dumbness to themselves.”
“A statesman who keeps his ear permanently glued to the ground will have neither elegance of posture nor flexibility of movement.”
“Men have been swindled by other men in their attempt to expand the American dream to include the whole world.”
“The trouble with the most famous phrase in the Declaration of Independence is not what Jefferson hoped to include, but what he deliberately excluded.”
“The world of politics is always twenty years behind the world of thought.”
“It is said that the British Empire is very large and respectable, and that the United States is very large and powerful. I do not know the truth of that, but I do know that the American Army and the British Empire are very small and contemptible.”
“So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family, that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty.”
“Compared with a novel, a film brings a hundred times the audience into contact with any subject.”
“Lenin is not a man. He is a system.”
“The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long.”
“The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.”
“The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long.”
“The best history is but like the art of Rembrandt; it casts a vivid light on certain selected causes, on those which were best and greatest; it leaves all the rest in shadow and unseen.”
“The loss of public support for the monarchy will not necessarily lead to the republic. The real solution is a republic with a king as head of state. No one has ever made a constitution better than the British.”
“Statesmen should be judged by what they do and not by what they are.”
“He’s like a brilliant but erratic professor who kind of forgets to teach the first-year students and is very good with the honours class.”
“The Second World War is the greatest drama in human history, the biggest war ever and a true battle of good and evil.”
“I have no patience with the usual approach that there are four fine universities in Scotland. Fine in relation to what?”
Famous A. J. P. Taylor Quotes
“History is not another name for the past, as many people imply. It is the name for stories about the past.”
“The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight.”
“The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long.”
“War solves no problems. It does but create new ones.”
“Nationalism is a bad thing, but it’s not a terrible thing. It’s a secondary bad.”
“Statesmen, scientists, and authors often fail to achieve their ends. The hired conductor of an orchestra of animals has no chance.”
“The great thing about television is that if something important happens anywhere in the world, day or night, you can always change the channel.”
“Nobody, no lover, is greater than my books.”
“The historian’s first duties are sacrilege and the mocking of false gods. They are his only tools for maintaining a reasonable and intelligent way of life.”
“Most of the people can do most anything. They just don’t want to.”
“Men have never been able to dispense with one another. It was the closed commercial state that needed no foreigner.”
“The cruelties of property and privilege are always more ferocious than the revenges of poverty and oppression.”
“There is a strange kind of human being in whom there is an eternal battle between body and soul, animal and god, for dominance. In all great men, their bodies were the forces and their souls the passive instrument.”
“To make people feel special, we have to make them feel odd.”
“The British have always coped by making a joke of their problems.”
“The greatest men often play their most significant role in the imagination.”
“There is a very intimate and special relationship between historians and the history they write.”
“No war is inevitable until it breaks out.”
“Television has lifted the manufacture of banality out of the sphere of handicraft and placed it in that of a major industry.”
“This is the epitaph I want on my tomb: Here lies one of the most intelligent animals who ever appeared on the face of the earth.”
“If an article is attractive, or evokes emotions in people, they will want to read it.”
“A masterly private sector is the main safeguard of individual liberty.”
“I have never known a human being who cannot write, while I have known many who cannot keep silent.”
“It is impossible to conceive of a chess player who does not watch the board.”
“When you make a world tolerable for yourself, you make a world tolerable for others.”
“All the twenty-first-century problems are the result of the way in which the twentieth century tackled the problems of the nineteenth.”
“Everyone behaves well if they can.”
“The trouble is not that most famous men are bad men, but that they cannot be private. The public have no imagination about personal life.”
“If a historian can describe what has happened, it is always a phenomenon which other people will say is unbelievable.”
“The fact of the matter is that the world is a comfortable place to live in.”
“Television is another place for a million guinea pigs.”
“The mistake people make is that they view history as something that comes before them. They need to see it as something which comes after them.”
“War has nothing to do with the force or with the nature of the human race.”
“The main business of a historian is to be a teacher.”
“It is impossible to believe that the same man could take part in so many things.”
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