The nastiness of women [in the 14th century] was generally perceived at the close of life when a man began to worry about hell, and his sexual desire in any case fading.
BARBARA TUCHMANin the midst of war and crisis nothing is as clear or as certain as it appears in hindsight
More Barbara Tuchman Quotes
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War is the unfolding of miscalculations.
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To put away one’s own original thoughts in order to take up a book is a sin against the Holy Ghost.
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The ills and disorders of the 14th century could not be without consequence. Times were to grow worse over the next fifty-odd years until at some imperceptible moment, by the some mysterious chemistry, energies were refreshed, ideas broke out of the mold of the Middle Ages into new realms, and humanity found itself redirected.
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Confronted by menace, or what is perceived as menace, governments will usually attempt to smash it, rarely to examine it, understand it, define it.
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The unrecorded past is none other than our old friend, the tree in the primeval forest which fell without being heard
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If all were equalized by death, as the medieval idea constantly emphasized, was it not possible that inequalities on earth were contrary to the will of God?
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For most people reform meant relief from ecclesiastical extortions.
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The poets have familiarized more people with history than have the historians.
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Doctrine tied itself into infinite knots over the realities of sex.
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Learning from experience is a faculty almost never practiced
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Belgium, where there occurred one of the rare appearances of the hero in history, was lifted above herself by the uncomplicated conscience of her King and, faced with the choice to acquiesce or resist, took less than three hours to make her decision, knowing it might be mortal.
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Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible.
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No nation in the world has so many drastic problems squeezed into so small a space, under such urgent pressure of time and heavy burden of history, as Israel.
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Books are the carriers of civilization… Books are humanity in print.
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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 TUCHMAN -
Reasonable orders are easy enough to obey; it is capricious, bureaucratic or plain idiotic demands that form the habit of discipline.
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Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.
BARBARA TUCHMAN -
Rome had Caesar, a man of remarkable governing talents, although it must be said that a ruler who arouses opponents to resort to assassination is probably not as smart as he ought to be.
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The power to command frequently causes failure to think.
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If it is not profitable for the common good that authority should be retained, it ought to be relinquished.
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Chief among the forces affecting political folly is lust for power, named by Tacitus as “the most flagrant of all the passions.” Because it can only be satisfied by power over others, government is its favorite field of exercise.
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Completeness is rare in history.
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Business, like a jackal, trotted on the heels of war.
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Nothing is more satisfying than to write a good sentence.
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No less a bold and pugnacious figure than Winston Churchill broke down and was unable to finish his remarks at the sendoff of the British Expeditionary Force into the maelstrom of World War I in Europe.
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Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled.
BARBARA TUCHMAN