If there had been no troublemakers, no Dissenters, we should still be living in caves.

All other forms of history - economic history, social history, psychological history, above all sociology - seem to me history with the history left out.

No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic.

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

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.

Rather an end in horror, than horror without end. He could not condemn principles he might need to invoke and apply later. The wolf cannot help having been created by God as he is, but we shoot him all the same if we have to. The great player in diplomacy, as in chess, asks the question,Does this improve me?, not look at the possible fringe benefits If you can't have what you like, you must like what you have.

A racing tipster who only reached Hitler's level of accuracy would not do well for his clients.