E. P. Thompson Quotes

• I do not see class as a 'structure', nor even as a 'category', but as something which in fact happens (and can be shown to have happened) in human relationships... the notion of class entails the notion of historical relationship. ...And class happens when some men, as a result of common experiences (inherited or shared), feel and articulate the identity of their interests as between themselves, and as against other men whose interests are different from (and usually opposed to) theirs

  E. P. Thompson

  Men, Class, Historical

  E. P. Thompson (1963). “THE MAKING OF THE ENGLISH WORKING CLASS”

  32 Copy quote

• We must not look at the past with the enormous condescension of posterity.

  E. P. Thompson

  Past, History, Looks

  30 Copy quote

• The foulest damage to our political life comes not from the 'secrets' which they hide from us, but from the little bits of half-truth and disinformation which they do tell us. These are already pre-digested, and then are sicked up as little gobbits of authorised spew. The columns of defense correspondents in the establishment sheets serve as the spittoons.

  E. P. Thompson

  Truth, Political, Secret

  30 Copy quote

• At a certain point one ceases to defend a certain view of history; one must defend history itself.

  E. P. Thompson

  Views, History, Certain

  13 Copy quote

• There is not a thought that is being thought in the West or the East that is not active in some Indian mind

  E. P. Thompson

  Mind, East, West

  22 Copy quote

• The missiles come first, and the justifications come second.

  E. P. Thompson

  Firsts, Justification, Missiles

  12 Copy quote

• Jurors have found, again and again, and at critical moments, according to what is their sense of the rational and just. If their sense of justice has gone one way, and the case another, they have found "against the evidence," ... the English common law rests upon a bargain between the Law and the people: The jury box is where the people come into the court: The judge watches them and the people watch back. A jury is the place where the bargain is struck. The jury attends in judgment, not only upon the accused, but also upon the justice and the humanity of the Law.

  E. P. Thompson

  Law, People, Justice

  12 Copy quote

• I have become a prisoner of the peace movement. But you can't say that the termination is coming and then say that you are going back to your own garden to dig.

  E. P. Thompson

  Peace, Garden, Movement

  10 Copy quote

• The talk about balance, nuclear balance, seems to me to be metaphysical and doesn't seem to be real at all.

  E. P. Thompson

  Real, Balance, Nuclear

  8 Copy quote

• This going into Europe will not turn out to be the thrilling mutual exchange supposed. It is more like nine middle-aged couples with failing marriages meeting in a darkened bedroom in a Brussels hotel for a group grope.

  E. P. Thompson

  Couple, Europe, Groups

  1975 On Britain's entry into the EEC, in the Sunday Times, 27 Apr.

  7 Copy quote

• The readings of Soviet society are as many as the experts you speak to. In my view, it's a society that is overdue for measures of democratization and organization.

  E. P. Thompson

  Reading, Views, Organization

  84 Copy quote

• I think you will find scientists that think like you in Germany and Britain, and you will find politicians that think like Weinberger. I think the most bellicose ruling group in the Western world at the moment is the British.

  E. P. Thompson

  Thinking, Groups, Germany

  7 Copy quote

• I think that the U.S. does have this very much more open attitude, and I admire it very much and I think it's very important to the world. But the information and the discussion sometimes come too late, after the effective decision has been made.

  E. P. Thompson

  Attitude, Thinking, Decision

  4 Copy quote

• I will hear no talk that there are no intermediate-range weapons on the NATO side.

  E. P. Thompson

  Weapons, Sides, Range

  4 Copy quote

• There are no European voices at Geneva, there are no European voices at START.

  E. P. Thompson

  Voice, Economy, Geneva

  7 Copy quote

• I don't care tuppence whether I'm forced into a leadership position or not. I'd much sooner not.

  E. P. Thompson

  Leadership, Care, Position

  4 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Eric Hobsbawm

Raymond Williams

Karl Marx

Perry Anderson

Louis Althusser

Antonio Gramsci

Edward Thomas

Fernand Braudel