A. J. P. Taylor
A. J. P. Taylor
Alan John Percivale Taylor FBAwas an English historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his television lectures. His combination of academic rigour and popular appeal led the historian Richard Overy to describe him as "the Macaulay of our age"...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth25 March 1906
long age goes-on
The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long.
loyalty mistake writing
When I write I have no loyalty except to historical truth as I see it and care no more about British achievements and mistakes than any other.
war world firsts
Lenin was the first to discover that capitalism 'inevitably' caused war; and he discovered this only when the First World War was already being fought. Of course he was right. Since every great state was capitalist in 1914.
communism crusades imaginary
The crusade against Communism was even more imaginary than the specter of Communism.
judging speech masters
A master of improvised speech and improvised policies.
peace establishment making-peace
There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the establishment and nothing more corrupting.
history events convincing
History is not a catalogue but...a convincing version of events.
looks england vices
Manchester has everything but good looks..., the only place in England which escapes our characteristic vice of snobbery.
years political heaven
In 1917 European history, in the old sense, came to an end. World history began. It was the year of Lenin and Woodrow Wilson, both of whom repudiated the traditional standards of political behaviour. Both preached Utopia, Heaven on Earth. It was the moment of birth for our contemporary world.
past names people
History is not another name for the past, as many people imply. It is the name for stories about the past.
past way rounds
The present enables us to understand the past, not the other way round.
country successful reality
We are apt to say that a foreign policy is successful only when the country, or at any rate the governing class, is united behind it. In reality, every line of policy is repudiated by a section, often by an influential section, of the country concerned. A foreign minister who waited until everyone agreed with him would have no foreign policy at all.
running regret past
Every historian loves the past or should do. If not, he has mistaken his vocation; but it is a short step from loving the past to regretting that it has ever changed. Conservatism is our greatest trade-risk; and we run psychoanalysts close in the belief that the only "normal" people are those who cause no trouble either to themselves or anybody else.
war fighting able
Though the object of being a Great Power is to be able to fight a Great War, the only way of remaining a Great Power is not to fight one.