107 Quotes by Margaret MacMillan

If we do not, as historians, write the history of great events as well as the small stories that make up the past, others will, and they will not necessarily do it well.

Hubris is interesting, because you get people who are often very clever, very powerful, have achieved great things, and then something goes wrong - they just don't know when to stop.

If you start thinking war is inevitable, then in your own times, you don't resist it as strongly as you should.

History is about great forces, yes, but also about contingency.

I like to think I'm a recovering historian.

History belongs to everyone. I don't think you have to give up scholarly standards. But I also don't think you want to write something that is impenetrable. You try as hard as you can to be readable.

Use it, enjoy it, but always handle history with care.

Nuclear proliferation has never entirely been brought under control, and the arsenals of nuclear powers contain bombs far more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Women throughout history have had to defy rigid conventions about what is and is not expected of them.