Barbara Tuchman Quotes - Page 2

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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.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Capitalist Economy, Usury, Sin

  Barbara Tuchman (2017). “A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century”, p.66, Penguin UK

  8 Copy quote

• Nothing is more satisfying than to write a good sentence. It is no fun to write lumpishly, dully, in prose the reader must plod through like wet sand. But it is a pleasure to achieve, if one can, a clear running prose that is simple yet full of surprises. This does not just happen. It requires skill, hard work, a good ear, and continued practice.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Running, Fun, Hard Work

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2011). “Practicing History: Selected Essays”, p.48, Random House

  12 Copy quote

• Woman was the Church's rival, the temptress, the distraction, the obstacle to holiness, the Devil's decoy.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Women, Church, Devil

  11 Copy quote

• In individuals as in nations, contentment is silent, which tends to unbalance the historical record.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Peace, History, Historical

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2011). “A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century”, p.210, Random House

  7 Copy quote

• When people don't have an objective, there's much less dynamic effort, and that makes life a lot less interesting.

  Barbara Tuchman

  People, Interesting, Effort

  8 Copy quote

• Business, like a jackal, trotted on the heels of war.

  Barbara Tuchman

  War, Jackals, Heels

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2011). “A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century”, p.389, Random House

  24 Copy quote

• Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are engines of change, windows on the world, and (as a poet has said) "lighthouses erected in the sea of time." They are companions , teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Teacher, Book, Humanity

  "The Book: A Lecture Sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the Authors' League of America, Presented at the Library of Congress October 17, 1979".

  9 Copy quote

• Confronted by menace, or what is perceived as menace, governments will usually attempt to smash it, rarely to examine it, understand it, define it.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Government, Menace

  Barbara Tuchman (2015). “The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam”, p.158, Crux Publishing Ltd

  4 Copy quote

• The appetite for power is old and irrepressible in humankind, and in its action almost always destructive.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Power, Action, Appetite

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2011). “The First Salute: A View of the American Revolution”, p.65, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• A phenomenon noticeable throughout history regardless of place or period is the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Government, Pursuit, Periods

  Barbara Tuchman (2015). “The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam”, p.10, Crux Publishing Ltd

  7 Copy quote

• In April 1917 the illusion of isolation was destroyed, America came to the end of innocence, and of the exuberant freedom of bachelor independence. That the responsibilities of world power have not made us happier is no surprise. To help ourselves manage them, we have replaced the illusion of isolation with a new illusion of omnipotence.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Responsibility, Omnipotence, America

  10 Copy quote

• 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. 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.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Passion, Successful, Exercise

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2011). “The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam”, p.405, Random House

  13 Copy quote

• In the United States we have a society pervaded from top to bottom by contempt for the law.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Law, United States, Contempt

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2011). “Practicing History: Selected Essays”, p.305, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• in the midst of war and crisis nothing is as clear or as certain as it appears in hindsight

  Barbara Tuchman

  War, Hindsight, Midst

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2009). “The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I; Barbara W. Tuchman's Great War Series”, p.485, Random House

  9 Copy quote

• satire is a wrapping of exaggeration around a core of reality.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Reality, Satire, Exaggeration

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2011). “A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century”, p.208, Random House

  6 Copy quote

• Above all, discard the irrelevant.

  Barbara Tuchman

  What Matters, Irrelevant

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2011). “Practicing History: Selected Essays”, p.17, Random House

  7 Copy quote

• In the midst of events there is no perspective.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Perspective, Events, Midst

  Barbara Tuchman (2017). “A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century”, p.543, Penguin UK

  6 Copy quote

• Human behavior is timeless.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Behavior, Timeless, Human Behavior

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2011). “A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century”, p.100, Random House

  6 Copy quote

• The conduct of war was so much more interesting than its prevention.

  Barbara Tuchman

  War, Interesting, Prevention

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2011). “The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914; Barbara W. Tuchman's Great War Series”, p.335, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• Nothing so comforts the military mind as the maxim of a great but dead general.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Military, Mind, Comfort

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2009). “The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I; Barbara W. Tuchman's Great War Series”, p.23, Random House

  7 Copy quote

• One constant among the elements of 1914—as of any era—was the disposition of everyone on all sides not to prepare for the harder alternative, not to act upon what they suspected to be true.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Alternatives, Elements, Eras

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2009). “The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I; Barbara W. Tuchman's Great War Series”, p.27, Random House

  8 Copy quote

• Arguments can always be found to turn desire into policy.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Desire, Argument, Found

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2009). “The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I; Barbara W. Tuchman's Great War Series”, p.394, Random House

  5 Copy quote

• Honor wears different coats to different eyes.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Eye, Honor, Different

  Barbara W. Tuchman (2009). “The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I; Barbara W. Tuchman's Great War Series”, p.114, Random House

  8 Copy quote

• When truth and reason cannot be heard, then must presumption rule.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Reason, Heard, Presumption

  4 Copy quote

• After absorbing the news of today, one expects to face a world consisting entirely of strikes, crimes, power failures, broken water mains, stalled trains, school shutdowns, muggers, drug addicts, neo-Nazis, and rapists. The fact is that one can come home in the evening, on a lucky day, without having encountered more than one or two of these phenomena.

  Barbara Tuchman

  School, Home, Two

  8 Copy quote

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