A. J. P. Taylor Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• History is the great propagator of doubt.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  History, Doubt

  8 Copy quote

• In my opinion, most of the great men of the past were only there for the beer - the wealth, prestige and grandeur that went with the power.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  Beer, Men, Power

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• Every historian loves the past or should do. If not, he has mistaken his vocation; but it is a short step from loving the past to regretting that it has ever changed. Conservatism is our greatest trade-risk; and we run psychoanalysts close in the belief that the only "normal" people are those who cause no trouble either to themselves or anybody else.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  Running, Regret, Past

  "The Trouble Makers: Dissent over Foreign Policy, 1792-1939". Book by A. J. P. Taylor, "The Radical Tradition: Fox, Paine, and Cobbett", p. 14, 1957.

  22 Copy quote

• The male clerk with his quill pen and copper-plate handwriting had gone for good. The female short-hand typist took his place. It was a decisive moment in women's emancipation.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  Hands, History, Clerks

  A. J. P. Taylor (2001). “English History 1914-1945”, p.38, Oxford Paperbacks

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• The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  Fear, Long, Age

  Observer (1981)

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• History gets thicker as it approaches recent times: more people, more events, and more books written about them. More evidence is preserved, often, one is tempted to say, too much. Decay and destruction have hardly begun their beneficent work.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  Book, People, Events

  A. J. P. Taylor (2001). “English History 1914-1945”, p.602, Oxford Paperbacks

  10 Copy quote

• 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

  Loyalty, Mistake, Writing

  16 Copy quote

• 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

  Book, Reading, Feelings

  5 Copy quote

• 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

  Children, Believe, Answers

  "A Personal History". Book by A. J. P. Taylor, p.301, 1983.

  8 Copy quote

• Psychoanalysts believe that the only "normal" people are those who cause not trouble to either themselves or anyone else.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  Depression, Believe, People

  14 Copy quote

• A racing tipster who only reached Hitler's level of accuracy would not do well for his clients.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  Racing, Levels, Clients

  Origins of the Second World War (1962) ch. 7

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  Country, African Tribes, Missionary

  "The Trouble Makers: Dissent over Foreign Policy, 1792-1939". Book by A. J. P. Taylor, "The Great War: The Triumph of E. D. Morel", p. 157, 1957.

  6 Copy quote

• Perfect soldier, perfect gentleman never gave offence to anyone not even the enemy.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  Perfect, Soldier, Gentleman

  21 Copy quote

• One of the penalties of being president of the United States is that you must subsist for four years without drinking anything except Californian wine.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  Drinking, Wine, Years

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• Rather an end in horror, than horror without end. He could not condemn principles he might need to invoke and apply later. The wolf cannot help having been created by God as he is, but we shoot him all the same if we have to. The great player in diplomacy, as in chess, asks the question,Does this improve me?, not look at the possible fringe benefits If you can't have what you like, you must like what you have.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  Player, History, Principles

  7 Copy 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

  History, Psychological, Sociology

  The A J P Taylor (1980). “Politicians, Socialism, and Historians”, H. Hamilton

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• We learn nothing from history except the infinite variety of men's behaviour.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  Men, Behaviour, Infinite

  "The Trouble Makers: Dissent over Foreign Policy, 1792-1939". Book by A. J. P. Taylor, "The Radical Tradition: Fox, Paine, and Cobbett", p. 34, 1957.

  4 Copy quote

• The God of Battles will throw the dice that decide.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  Peace, War, Battle

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• 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

  Kings, Would Be, Duty

  4 Copy quote

• The Foreign Office knows no secrets.

  A. J. P. Taylor

  Office, Secret, Knows

  A. J. P. Taylor (2001). “English History 1914-1945”, p.603, Oxford Paperbacks

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