Historians who stuff in every item of research they have found, every shoelace and telephone call of a biographical subject, are not doing the hard work of selecting and shaping a readable story.

Nothing so comforts the military mind as the maxim of a great but dead general.

Arguments can always be found to turn desire into policy.

Books are humanity in print.

To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse.

Completeness is rare in history.

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