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1 " History is not another name for the past, as many people imply. It is the name for stories about the past. "
― A.J.P. Taylor
2 " 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. "
3 " On the contrary, all experience shows that revolutionaries come from those who are economically independent, not from factory workers. Very few revolutionary leaders have done manual work, and those who did soon abandoned it for political activities. The factory worker wants higher wages and better conditions, not a revolution. It is the man on his own who wants to remake society, and moreover he can happily defy those in power without economic risk. "
― A.J.P. Taylor , The Communist Manifesto
4 " Revolutions occurred in almost every European city with more than 50,000 inhabitants. The occasion for the revolutions was hunger. "
5 " Soup kitchens were the prelude to revolution. The revolutionaries might talk about socialism, those who actually revolted wanted 'the right to work'- more capitalism, not its abolition. "
6 " Increasing prosperity for the capitalists has everywhere brought with it increasing prosperity for the proletariat, instead of the increasing misery which Marx foretold. The most advanced capitalist countries are also those where the working class has the highest standard of life. "
7 " [Otto von Bismarck] only considered the interests of his own country - always the worst offense that a statesman can commit in the eyes of foreigners. "
― A.J.P. Taylor , Bismarck: The Man and the Statesman
8 " In retrospect, though many were guilty, none was innocent. "
― A.J.P. Taylor , The Origins of the Second World War
9 " There is nothing nicer than nodding off while reading. Going fast asleep and then being woken by the crash of the book on the floor, then saying to yourself, well it doesn't matter much. An admirable feeling. "
10 " Bismarck fought 'necessary' wars and killed thousands, the idealists of the twentieth century fight 'just' wars and kill millions. "
11 " Our task as historians is to make past conflicts live again; not to lament the verdict or to wish for a different one. It bewildered me when my old master A. F. Pribram, a very great historian, said in the nineteen-thirties: 'It is still not decided whether the Habsburg monarchy could have found a solution for its national problems.' How can we decide about something that did not happen? Heaven knows, we have difficulty enough in deciding what did happen. Events decided that the Habsburgs had not found a solution for their national problems; that is all we know or need to know. Whenever I read the phrase: 'whether so-and-so acted rightly must be left for historians to decide', I close the book; the writer has moved from history to make-believe. "
― A.J.P. Taylor , The Trouble Makers
12 " Study of the past often turns into love of the past and a desire to keep it. "
13 " Marx was concerned to change society or rather, if he adhered rigidly to his system, expected society to change in the way he wanted. "
14 " There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the Establishment — and nothing more corrupting. "
15 " Absolute power corrupts, and power corrupts absolutely "
16 " The British are entitled always to mistrust other people but others are not entitled to mistrust the British. That is why England is known or was known abroad as 'Perfide Albion', because the British have two standards, one for themselves and one for other people. "
― A.J.P. Taylor , How Wars Begin
17 " Revolutions in short are made in the name of the proletariat, not by it, and usually in countries where the proletariat hardly exists. "
18 " It is important to remember that events now long in the past were once in the future. "
― A.J.P. Taylor , War by Timetable: How the First World War Began
19 " earlier wars, and in the Second World War, generals, even marshals, also ran risks and died in action. In the First World War they led comfortable lives. All except Kitchener. He was the only outstanding military figure on either side who came to a violent end. Asquith "
― A.J.P. Taylor , The First World War: An Illustrated History
20 " There is nothing more disastrous than a committee of extremely able men. "
