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
writing lasts paper
The writer learns to write, in the last resort, only by writing. He must get words onto paper even if he is dissatisfied with them.
evil envy political
The urge to distribute wealth equally, and still more the belief that it can be brought about by political action, is the most dangerous of all popular emotions. It is the legitimation of envy, of all the deadly sins the one which a stable society based on consensus should fear the most. The monster state is a source of many evils; but it is, above all, an engine of envy.
running america leader
It is one of the many ironies of this period that, at a time when the intelligentsia were excoriating Mellon for tax-evasion, and contrasting the smooth-running Soviet planned economy with the breakdown in America, he was secretly exploiting the frantic necessities of the Soviet leaders to form the basis of one of America's most splendid public collections
intellectual tests feels
For me this is the vital litmus test: no intellectual society can flourish where a Jew feels even slightly uneasy.
luxury today universal
It takes less than a decade for today's luxury to become a universal necessity.
eye views history
Every good historian is almost by definition a revisionist. He looks at the accepted view of a particular historic episode or period with a very critical eye.
passion men views
His (Lenin's)humanitarianism was a very abstract passion. It embraced humanity in general but he seems to have had little love for, or even interest in, humanity in particular. He saw the people with whom he dealt, his comrades, not as individuals but as receptacles for his ideas. On that basis, and no other, they were judged. He judged man not by their moral qualities but by their views, or rather the degree to which they accepted his.
princess opposites lunch
I was very fond of Princess Diana. She used to have me over to lunch to ask my advice. I'd give her good advice, and she'd say: 'I entirely agree. Paul, you're so right.' Then she'd go and do the opposite.
leader inspire president
The most intimidating world leader was Lyndon Johnson, who became U.S. President when John Kennedy was assassinated. He exulted in this power and liked to inspire fear.
unique views racism
If anti-Semitism is a variety of racism, it is a most peculiar variety, with many unique characteristics. In my view as a historian, it is so peculiar that it deserves to be placed in a quite different category. I would call it an intellectual disease, a disease of the mind, extremely infectious and massively destructive.
evil toss crooks
The most evil person I ever met was a toss-up between Pablo Picasso and the publisher-crook Robert Maxwell.
cutting palin
I like that lady - Sarah Palin. She's great. I like the cut of her jib.
dog europe chinese
In 1924 Mao took a Chinese friend, newly arrived from Europe, to see the notorious sign in the Shanghai park, 'Chinese and Dogs Not Allowed'.
doors ifs wide
If I see a door ajar, I push on it to see how far it will open, and if it opens wide I go through it.