At a certain point one ceases to defend a certain view of history; one must defend history itself.
E. P. ThompsonI think that the U.S. does have this very much more open attitude, and I admire it very much and I think it's very important to the world. But the information and the discussion sometimes come too late, after the effective decision has been made.
E. P. ThompsonJurors have found, again and again, and at critical moments, according to what is their sense of the rational and just. If their sense of justice has gone one way, and the case another, they have found "against the evidence," ... the English common law rests upon a bargain between the Law and the people: The jury box is where the people come into the court: The judge watches them and the people watch back. A jury is the place where the bargain is struck. The jury attends in judgment, not only upon the accused, but also upon the justice and the humanity of the Law.
E. P. ThompsonI have become a prisoner of the peace movement. But you can't say that the termination is coming and then say that you are going back to your own garden to dig.
E. P. Thompson