In April 1917 the illusion of isolation was destroyed, America came to the end of innocence, and of the exuberant freedom of bachelor independence. That the responsibilities of world power have not made us happier is no surprise. To help ourselves manage them, we have replaced the illusion of isolation with a new illusion of omnipotence.

Books are humanity in print.

For belligerent purposes, the 14th century, like the 20th, commanded a technology more sophisticated than the mental and moral capacity that guided its use.

If I had taken a doctoral degree, it would have stifled any writing capacity.

No more distressing moment can ever face a British government than that which requires it to come to a hard, fast and specific decision.

Confronted by menace, or what is perceived as menace, governments will usually attempt to smash it, rarely to examine it, understand it, define it.

The appetite for power is old and irrepressible in humankind, and in its action almost always destructive.