A. J. P. Taylor Quotations

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?

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

The God of Battles will throw the dice that decide...

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.

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.

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.

One of the penalties of being president of the United States is that you must subsist for four years without drinking anything except Californian wine.

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

Psychoanalysts believe that the only "normal" people are those who cause not trouble to either themselves or anyone else.