“Thus it is, when the moral restraints of religion and tradition, hierarchy and precedent, are removed, the power to suspend or unleash… — Paul Johnson Character 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 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 Climate Copy Share Image
Margaret Thatcher had more impact on the world than any woman ruler since Catherine the Great of Russia. Not only did she… — Paul Johnson 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 Copy Share Image
“As Khrushchev put it, “He prodded the capitalist world with the tip of his bayonet.” He himself put it, “If I see… — Paul Johnson Copy Share Image
The planet Earth, though not threatened with destruction by man-made global warming, is by no means indestructible. There are many unpredictable events… — Paul Johnson Copy Share Image
Scanning the newspapers and absorbing with a mixture of incredulity and indignation the enormities they report, I conclude that what England lacks… — Paul Johnson 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
“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
My grandfather used to say, "Learn to like art, music and literature deeply and passionately. They will be your friends when things… — Paul Johnson Advice Copy Share Image
Every good historian is almost by definition a revisionist. He looks at the accepted view of a particular historic episode or period… — Paul Johnson 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 Augustine Copy Share Image
Germany's Angela Merkel exudes an atmosphere of elderly exhaustion and pooped-out pessimism. Britain's David Cameron, though by nature exuberant, feels he has… — Paul Johnson 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 Copy Share Image
At some time in their careers, most good historians itch to write a history of the world, endeavor to discover what makes… — Paul Johnson Copy Share Image
I don't write huge books any more. I used to write 1,000 printed pages, but now I write short books. I did… — Paul Johnson 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
It would be wrong to say I enjoy having rows, because that would be un-Christian. If people attack me, then I respond,… — Paul Johnson Copy Share Image
“The inquiry begins with Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78), who was the first of the modern intellectuals, their archetype and in many ways the… — Paul Johnson Jacques rousseau 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 Copy Share Image
Indeed it is the protean ability of Western civilization to be self-critical and self-correcting - not only in producing wealth but over… — Paul Johnson Ability Copy Share Image
“Lincoln could easily have used the excuse of Seward’s incapacity to avoid consulting him at all. But that was not his way.… — Paul Johnson Great men 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
Indeed, the study of universities and the great men and women who have attended them leads me to think that the best… — Paul Johnson Copy Share Image
Those who buy in to global warming wish to drastically curb human economic and industrial activities, regardless of the consequences for people,… — Paul Johnson Copy Share Image
“While under the tsars the average number of executions was only seventeen, by 1918 the Cheka was killing an average of a… — Paul Johnson Copy Share Image
“When I surrender to prolonged entreaties to accept an offer, repeated over and over again, I do so for the sake of… — Paul Johnson Peace Copy Share Image
Where the quest for knowledge is relatively, and now almost absolutely, unrestrained, the public benefit will be great, especially where the certainty… — Paul Johnson Copy Share Image
