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Barbara Tuchman

Barbara Tuchman Quotes

Historian

Barbara Tuchman was an American historian renowned for her in-depth research and vivid narrative style. Her works covered historical events from the Roman Empire to the 20th century, with 'Guns, Germs, and Steel' and 'The Guns of August' being particularly notable.

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Famous Barbara Tuchman Quotes

“If all were equalized by death, as the medieval idea constantly emphasized, was it not possible that inequalities on earth were contrary to the will of God?”

Ifs Ideas Earth Contrary Gods Will Inequality Medieval

Author:Barbara Tuchman

“If it is not profitable for the common good that authority should be retained, it ought to be relinquished.”

Ifs Should Common Ought Authority Profitable Common Good

Book:A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

Source: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

“Nothing is more satisfying than to write a good sentence. It is no fun to write lumpishly, dully, in prose the reader must plod through like wet sand. But it is a pleasure to achieve, if one can, a clear running prose that is simple yet full of surprises. This does not just happen. It requires skill, hard work, a good ear, and continued practice.”

Ifs Writing Doe Hard Happens Running Fun Simple Pleasure Practice Clear Achieve Hard Work Reader Skills Ears Surprise Sentences Crafts Prose Sand Satisfying Wet

Book:Practicing History: Selected Essays

Source: Practicing History: Selected Essays

“The open frontier, the hardships of homesteading from scratch, the wealth of natural resources, the whole vast challenge of a continent waiting to be exploited, combined to produce a prevailing materialism and an American drive bent as much, if not more, on money, property, and power than was true of the Old World from which we had fled.”

Source: Practicing History: Selected Essays

“If I had taken a doctoral degree, it would have stifled any writing capacity.”

Ifs Writing Taken Degrees Capacity

Author:Barbara Tuchman

“If power corrupts, weakness in the seat of power, with its constant necessity of deals and bribes and compromising arrangements,corrupts even more.”

Ifs Deals Power Weakness Constant Compromise Seats Arrangements Bribe Power Corrupts

Book:Stilwell and the American Experience in China: 1911-1945

Source: Stilwell and the American Experience in China: 1911-1945

“If wisdom in government eludes us, perhaps courage could substitute-the moral courage to terminate mistakes.”

Ifs Government Mistake Moral Courage Substitutes Elude Moral Courage Elude Us

Book:Practicing History: Selected Essays

Source: Practicing History: Selected Essays