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
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lying outdated seeking
Wisdom lies not in possessing knowledge - which quickly becomes outdated - but in perpetually seeking it.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.
america world mixtures
Scanning the newspapers and absorbing with a mixture of incredulity and indignation the enormities they report, I conclude that what England lacks today is, quite simply, sense.
beautiful children railroads
As a child I found railroad stations exciting, mysterious, and even beautiful, as indeed they often were.
men political obscurity
John Major is what he is: a man from nowhere, going nowhere, heading for a well-merited obscurity as fast as his mediocre talents can carry him.
august hell paradigm
To many, Heathrow in August is a paradigm of Hell.
strong book passion
This book is dedicated to the people of America--strong, outspoken, intense in their convictions, sometimes wrong-headed but always generous and brave, with a passion for justice no nation has ever matched.
meaningful today used
The word 'meaningful' when used today is nearly always meaningless.