A phenomenon noticeable throughout history regardless of place or period is the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests.
BARBARA TUCHMANWhen commerce with Moslems flourished, zeal for their massacre declined.
More Barbara Tuchman Quotes
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When truth and reason cannot be heard, then must presumption rule.
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I have always been in a condition in which I cannot not write.
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Business offers a kind of power, but only to the very successful at the top, and without the dominion and titles and red carpets and motorcycle escorts of public office.
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Books are humanity in print.
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Words are seductive and dangerous material, to be used with caution.
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The open frontier, the hardships of homesteading from scratch, the wealth of natural resources.
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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.
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No female iniquity was more severely condemned than the habit of plucking eyebrows and the hairline to heighten the forehead.
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No economic activity was more irrepressible [in the 14th century] than the investment and lending at interest of money; it was the basis for the rise of the Western capitalist economy and the building of private fortunes-and it was based on the sin of usury.
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The appetite for power is old and irrepressible in humankind, and in its action almost always destructive.
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The writer’s object is – or should be – to hold the reader’s attention.
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Human behavior is timeless.
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Whatever solace the Christian faith could give was balanced by the anxiety it generated.
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In the midst of events there is no perspective.
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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.
BARBARA TUCHMAN