In order to go on living one must try to escape the death involved in perfectionism.

The end of rebellion is liberation, while the end of revolution is the foundation of freedom.

With the rise of Christianity, faith replaced thought as the bringer of immortality.

Caution in handling generally accepted opinions that claim to explain whole trends of history is especially important for the historian of modern times, because the last century has produced an abundance of ideologies that pretend to be keys to history but are actually nothing but desperate efforts to escape responsibility.

No civilization would ever have been possible without a framework of stability, to provide the wherein for the flux of change. Foremost among the stabilizing factors, more enduring than customs, manners and traditions, are the legal systems that regulate our life in the world and our daily affairs with each other.

The good things in history are usually of very short duration, but afterward have a decisive influence on what happens over long periods of time.

This is the precept by which I have lived: Prepare for the worst; expect the best; and take what comes.