A racing tipster who only reached Hitler's level of accuracy would not do well for his clients. A. J. P. Taylor More Quotes by A. J. P. Taylor More Quotes From A. J. P. Taylor 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 regret running past The crusade against Communism was even more imaginary than the specter of Communism. A. J. P. Taylor crusades communism fake-people Fascism was little more than terrorist rule by corrupt gangsters. Mussolini was not corrupt himself but he did nothing except to rage impotently. A. J. P. Taylor fascism rage littles The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long. A. J. P. Taylor age fear long Lenin was the first to discover that capitalism 'inevitably' caused war; and he discovered this only when the First World War was already being fought. Of course he was right. Since every great state was capitalist in 1914. A. J. P. Taylor war world firsts 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 events book people 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 power beer men 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. A. J. P. Taylor opinion behaviour men 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 answers believe children No war is inevitable until it breaks out. A. J. P. Taylor break-out war peace 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 sociology psychological history 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 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 clerks history hands Like most of those who study history, he (Napoleon III) learned from the mistakes of the past how to make new ones. A. J. P. Taylor studying-history mistake past 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 african-tribes missionary country 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 principles player history History is the great propagator of doubt. A. J. P. Taylor doubt history Perfect soldier, perfect gentleman never gave offence to anyone not even the enemy. A. J. P. Taylor gentleman soldier perfect 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 duty kings would-be We learn nothing from history except the infinite variety of men's behaviour. A. J. P. Taylor infinite behaviour men
