At some time in their careers, most good historians itch to write a history of the world, endeavor to discover what makes… — Paul Johnson Careers Copy Share Image
Courage is the essential element in any great public man or woman. — Paul Johnson Any Copy Share Image
“In 1924 Mao took a Chinese friend, newly arrived from Europe, to see the notorious sign in the Shanghai park, 'Chinese and… — Paul Johnson Chinese Copy Share Image
If you depart from moral absolutes, you go into a bottomless pit. Communism and Nazism were catastrophic evils which both derived from… — Paul Johnson Absolutes Copy Share Image
The image of the scientist who puts the pursuit of truth before anything else has been shattered and replaced by a man… — Paul Johnson Any Copy Share Image
In all its myriad manifestations, the language of anti-Semitism through the ages is a dictionary of non-sequiturs and antonyms, a thesaurus of… — Paul Johnson Ages Copy Share Image
Marxism, Freudianism, global warming. These are proof - of which history offers so many examples - that people can be suckers on… — Paul Johnson Creed Copy Share Image
“Still more central to his anger and frustration, and lying perhaps at the very roots of his hatred for the capitalist system,… — Paul Johnson Anger and frustration Copy Share Image
“Most people are resistant to ideas, especially new ones. But they are fascinated by character. Extravagance of personality is one way in… — Paul Johnson Extravagance Copy Share Image
The United States is a concept that works very well, even in bad times. But that's no reason to think its structure… — Paul Johnson Any Copy Share Image
The urge to distribute wealth equally, and still more the belief that it can be brought about by political action, is the… — Paul Johnson Action Copy Share Image
“It was part of Rousseau’s vanity that he believed himself incapable of base emotions. ‘I feel too superior to hate.’ ‘I love… — Paul Johnson Love myself Copy Share Image
A capitalist economy hums when leading businessmen are bubbling with animal spirits and are prepared to sink their money into risky ventures. — Paul Johnson Animal Copy Share Image
What strikes the historian surveying anti-Semitism worldwide over more than two millennia is its fundamental irrationality. It seems to make no sense,… — Paul Johnson Anti semitism Copy Share Image
I've been having an affair, but I still believe in family values. — Paul Johnson Affair Copy Share Image
Mr. Obama would be a disheartening president even during a super boom, with his grim demeanor and empty rhetoric, as well as… — Paul Johnson Boom Copy Share Image
“With the decline of clerical power in the eighteenth century, a new kind of mentor emerged to fill the vacuum and capture… — Paul Johnson Mentor Copy Share Image
The only thing to be said for air travel is speed. It makes possible travel on a scale unimaginable before our present… — Paul Johnson Africa Copy Share Image
“Men are excessively ruthless and cruel not as a rule out of malice but from outraged righteousness. How much more is this… — Paul Johnson Authority Copy Share Image
“Its spirit was animated by the same love of representative government and respect for the rule of law that had produced England’s… — Paul Johnson Love Copy Share Image
I very much wanted to be editor of the 'New Statesman!' But I never wanted to be prime minister, except maybe as… — Paul Johnson Boy Copy Share Image
The writer learns to write, in the last resort, only by writing. He must get words onto paper even if he is… — Paul Johnson Acquire Copy Share Image
John Major is what he is: a man from nowhere, going nowhere, heading for a well-merited obscurity as fast as his mediocre… — Paul Johnson Headings Copy Share Image
A deliberate plan is not always necessary for the highest art; it emerges. — Paul Johnson Art Copy Share Image
“Augustine was struck by the fact, when they first met, that Ambrose read to himself, a habit unknown to the classical world:… — Paul Johnson First met Copy Share Image
