No war is inevitable until it breaks out.

History is the great propagator of doubt.

Freedom does not always win. This is one of the bitterest lessons of history.

We are apt to say that a foreign policy is successful only when the country, or at any rate the governing class, is united behind it. In reality, every line of policy is repudiated by a section, often by an influential section, of the country concerned. A foreign minister who waited until everyone agreed with him would have no foreign policy at all.

When I write I have no loyalty except to historical truth as I see it and care no more about British achievements and mistakes than any other.

George VI in the conventional parlance was a Good King who sacrificed his life to his sense of duty. If we are to have monarchs it would be hard to find a better one.

Like most of those who study history, he (Napoleon III) learned from the mistakes of the past how to make new ones.