Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson
British journalist, author, and historian who edited the New Statesman and penned over forty works, including the 1959 novel, Left of Centre, and the 1997 non-fiction work, A History of the American People. He also wrote four works on art and architecture and two memoirs.
NationalityBritish
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth2 November 1928
boys editors littles
I very much wanted to be editor of the 'New Statesman!' But I never wanted to be prime minister, except maybe as a little boy.
democracies-have enemy democracy
Democracy has many enemies, and the terrorist is only one of them.
new-york book writing
I don't write huge books any more. I used to write 1,000 printed pages, but now I write short books. I did one on Napoleon, 50,000 words - enjoyed doing that. He was a baddie. I did one on Churchill, which was a bestseller in New York, I'm glad to say. 50,000 words. He was a goodie.
important next willpower
Next to courage, willpower is the most important thing in politics.
hunting foxes delight
If we want foxes, to observe and delight in, we must have hunting.
beautiful night luxury
Hell is being trapped in a night-club with the'beautiful people'and forced to live in a'luxury penthouse flat'.
religious believe political
If the decline of Christianity created the modern political zealot - and his crimes - so the evaporation of religious faith among the educated left a vacuum in the minds of Western intellectuals easily filled by secular superstition. There is no other explanation for the credulity with which scientists, accustomed to evaluating evidence, and writers, whose whole function was to study and criticize society, accepted the crudest Stalinist propaganda at its face value. They needed to believe; they wanted to be duped.
war fighting kgb
As the CIA and KGB, like God and Satan, fight Miltonic battles across five continents...
fear people would-be
A Stalin functionary admitted, Innocent people were arrested: naturally - otherwise no one would be frightened. If people were arrested only for specific misdemeanours, all the others would feel safe and so become ripe for treason.
mass-transit arizona looks
You know you're an Arizona native when you have to look up "mass transit" in the dictionary.
lying outdated seeking
Wisdom lies not in possessing knowledge - which quickly becomes outdated - but in perpetually seeking it.
balance culture conflict
The richness and variety, and indeed the advance, of our culture depend upon the continuation of this conflict [between conservatives and radicals], which is deeply rooted in human nature.
life art dark
My grandfather used to say, "Learn to like art, music and literature deeply and passionately. They will be your friends when things are bad". It is true: at this time of year, when days are short and dark, and one hardly dares to open the newspapers, I turn, not vainly either, to the great creators of the past for distraction, solace and help.
family parent institutions
The most socially subversive institution of our time is the one-parent family.