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141 " the writing of history is often another way of defining chaos. There is in fact a case for saying that human history, as it is generally described and understood, is the sum total of accident and unintended consequence. "
― Peter Ackroyd , Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors (The History of England, #1)
142 " History is about longing and belonging. It is about the need for permanence and the perception of continuity. It concerns the atavistic desire to find deep sources of identity. "
143 " Everything grows out of the soil of contingent circumstance. Convenience, rather than the shibboleth of progress of evolution, is the agent of change. Error and misjudgment therefore play a large part in what we are pleased to call the 'development' of institutions. A body of uses and misuses then takes on the carapace of custom and becomes part of a tradition. "
144 " The cure for tonsillitis was inspired. ‘Take a fat cat, skin it, draw out the guts and take the grease of a hedgehog and the fat of a bear … All this crumble small and stuff the cat, roast it whole and gather the grease and anoint the patient therewith. "
145 " The root of narcissism lies in anxiety, and the fear of fragmentation, which may be assuaged by the sight of the reflection. "
― Peter Ackroyd , Venice: Pure City
146 " Ah,’ Arthur cried out, ‘I have never known one month of repose since I took up the crown. I have lost the key to contentment. "
― Peter Ackroyd , The Death of King Arthur
147 " The land was left vacant, and fewer men were available to defend it. So the Angles, and the Saxons, moved westward. Anglo-Saxon civilization was created by a pandemic. "
148 " In the end the natives would be so mixed and mingled with the new settlers that the term Saxon or Angle ceased to have any meaning. All would become English. "
149 " The financial penalties for murder, for example, were graded according to the ‘worth’ of the victim. It was a harsh and divisive society, only made possible by the continuous exploitation of the unfree. "
150 " Chaplin left the Keystone studios on a Saturday night in December after cutting his last film, without bidding farewell to any of his erstwhile colleagues; he spent Sunday in his room at the Los Angeles Athletic Club and on the following day he turned up for work at the Essanay Studios in Niles, California. Of course, everyone at Keystone knew about his imminent departure, but he could not bring himself to make a speech or shake hands. He just left. Sennett said later that 'as for Charles Spencer Chaplin, I am not at all sure that we know him'. He had never really been part of the team; he would never become a member of any group. "
― Peter Ackroyd , Charlie Chaplin: A Brief Life
151 " name for Manchester was Mamucio, after the "
152 " there are no haunted houses...only haunted people "
― Peter Ackroyd , English Music
153 " Sexuality was a fluid, infinitely malleable and indefinite condition. It permeated the streets of London like the smell of pies and sweetmeats. "
― Peter Ackroyd , Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day
154 " The body of Saint Mark, supposedly preserved in the basilica was the central point of the configuration between the ducal palace, the market, and the Arsenal. This was the sacred geometry of Venetian power. "
155 " Is there not something more glorious about making music than making war? "
156 " The quickness of his hand was determined by the quickness of his eye. "
― Peter Ackroyd , Turner
157 " Those who pursue the process of living are those who create the history "
158 " He could not bear to part with his paintings because they were an aspect of his being. "
159 " The writing of history is often another way of defining chaos. "
160 " It is one of the attributes of capitalist enterprise that an object is no longer significant for its essence but for its exchange value. "