A.J.P. Taylor Quotes

Our task as historians is to make past conflicts live again; not to lament the verdict or to wish for a different one. It bewildered me when my old master A. F. Pribram, a very great historian, said in the nineteen-thirties: 'It is still not decided whether the Habsburg monarchy could have found a solution for its national problems.' How can we decide about something that did not happen? Heaven knows, we have difficulty enough in deciding what did happen. Events decided that the Habsburgs had not found a solution for their national problems; that is all we know or need to know. Whenever I read the phrase: 'whether so-and-so acted rightly must be left for historians to decide', I close the book; the writer has moved from history to make-believe.

Psychoanalysts believe that the only 'normal' people are those who cause no trouble either to themselves or anyone else.

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.

Knowledge breeds doubt, not certainty,
And the more we know the more uncertain we become.

Bismarck fought 'necessary' wars and killed thousands, the idealists of the twentieth century fight 'just' wars and kill millions.

[Otto von Bismarck] only considered the interests of his own country - always the worst offense that a statesman can commit in the eyes of foreigners.

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.

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?

Though the object of being a Great Power is to be able to fight a Great War, the only way of remaining a Great Power is not to fight one.

In my opinion we learn nothing from history except the infinite variety of men's behaviour. We study it, as we listen to music or read poetry, for pleasure, not for instruction

Like most of those who study history, he (Napoleon III) learned from the mistakes of the past how to make new ones.

The present enables us to understand the past, not the other way round.

Marx was concerned to change society or rather, if he adhered rigidly to his system, expected society to change in the way he wanted.

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

A master of improvised speech and improvised policies.

History is not a catalogue but ... a convincing version of events.

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.

History is the great propagator of doubt.

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

There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the Establishment - and nothing more corrupting.

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

Freedom does not always win. This is one of the bitterest lessons of history.

In retrospect, though many were guilty, none was innocent.

The crusade against Communism was even more imaginary than the specter of Communism.

The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight.

Study of the past often turns into love of the past and a desire to keep it.

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.

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.

The Foreign Office knows no secrets.

All other forms of history - economic history, social history, psychological history, above all sociology - seem to me history with the history left out.

Conformity may give you a quiet life; it may even bring you to a University Chair. But all change in history, all advance, comes from the nonconformists. If there had been no trouble-makers, no Dissenters, we should still be living in caves.

If there had been a strong democratic sentiment in Germany, Hitler would never have come to power . [Germans] deserved what they got when they went round crying for a hero.

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.

Nothing is inevitable until it happens.

If men are to respect each other for what they are, they must cease to respect each other for what they own.