The Second World War took place not so much because no one won the First, but because the Versailles Treaty did not acknowledge this truth.

My grandfather used to say, "Learn to like art, music and literature deeply and passionately. They will be your friends when things are bad". It is true: at this time of year, when days are short and dark, and one hardly dares to open the newspapers, I turn, not vainly either, to the great creators of the past for distraction, solace and help.

If we want foxes, to observe and delight in, we must have hunting.

Marxism, Freudianism, global warming. These are proof - of which history offers so many examples - that people can be suckers on a grand scale. To their fanatical followers they are a substitute for religion. Global warming, in particular, is a creed, a faith, a dogma that has little to do with science.

The most socially subversive institution of our time is the one-parent family.

Every good historian is almost by definition a revisionist. He looks at the accepted view of a particular historic episode or period with a very critical eye.

The Second World War took place not so much because no one won the First, but because the Versailles Treaty did not acknowledge this truth.