61 Quotes by A. J. P. Taylor

If there had been a strong democratic sentiment in Germany, Hitler would never have come to power . [Germans] deserved what they got when they went round crying for a hero.

If men are to respect each other for what they are, they must cease to respect each other for what they own.

Knowledge breeds doubt, not certainty,

The God of Battles will throw the dice that decide.

In my opinion we learn nothing from history except the infinite variety of men's behaviour. We study it, as we listen to music or read poetry, for pleasure, not for instruction.

We learn nothing from history except the infinite variety of men’s behaviour.

Bismarck fought ‘necessary’ wars and killed thousands, the idealists of the twentieth century fight ‘just’ wars and kill millions.

Lenin was the first to discover that capitalism ‘inevitably’ caused war; and he discovered this only when the First World War was already being fought. Of course he was right. Since every great state was capitalist in 1914.

Psychoanalysts believe that the only “normal” people are those who cause not trouble to either themselves or anyone else.