The writer's object is - or should be - to hold the reader's attention. Barbara W. Tuchman More Quotes by Barbara W. Tuchman More Quotes From Barbara W. Tuchman Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Barbara W. Tuchman thought dumb science history Nothing sickens me more than the closed door of a library. Barbara W. Tuchman door nothing me library Honor wears different coats to different eyes. Barbara W. Tuchman eyes coats different honor The unrecorded past is none other than our old friend, the tree in the primeval forest which fell without being heard. Barbara W. Tuchman forest friend tree past War is the unfolding of miscalculations. Barbara W. Tuchman unfolding war Reasonable orders are easy enough to obey; it is capricious, bureaucratic or plain idiotic demands that form the habit of discipline. Barbara W. Tuchman discipline habit enough easy Diplomacy means all the wicked devices of the Old World, spheres of influence, balances of power, secret treaties, triple alliances, and, during the interim period, appeasement of Fascism. Barbara W. Tuchman diplomacy influence power world Every successful revolution puts on in time the robes of the tyrant it has deposed. Barbara W. Tuchman every revolution successful time Dead battles, like dead generals, hold the military mind in their dead grip. Barbara W. Tuchman battles dead like mind Books are humanity in print. Barbara W. Tuchman in-print books print humanity For me, the card catalog has been a companion all my working life. To leave it is like leaving the house one was brought up in. Barbara W. Tuchman leave me house life Nothing so comforts the military mind as the maxim of a great but dead general. Barbara W. Tuchman dead nothing great mind The fleet sailed to its war base in the North Sea, headed not so much for some rendezvous with glory as for rendezvous with discretion. Barbara W. Tuchman glory sea war history To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse. Barbara W. Tuchman even muse shelter food To put away one's own original thoughts in order to take up a book is a sin against the Holy Ghost. Barbara W. Tuchman thoughts own sin book No more distressing moment can ever face a British government than that which requires it to come to a hard, fast and specific decision. Barbara W. Tuchman face moment government decision If I had taken a doctoral degree, it would have stifled any writing capacity. Barbara W. Tuchman degree taken capacity writing I want the reader to turn the page and keep on turning until the end. Barbara W. Tuchman keep turn end want If a man is a writer, everybody tiptoes around past the locked door of the breadwinner. But if you're an ordinary female housewife, people say, 'This is just something Barbara wanted to do; it's not professional.' Barbara W. Tuchman you man people past After the war, when my husband came home, we had two more children, and domesticity for a while prevailed combined with beginning the work I had always wanted to do, which was writing a book. Barbara W. Tuchman work home war children
