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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

“Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are engines of change (as the poet said), windows on the world and lighthouses erected in the sea of time. They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print. [Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 34, No. 2 (Nov. 1980), pp. 16-32]”

Mind Humanity Literature Books Civilization Thought

Author:Barbara Tuchman

“In the search for meaning we must not forget that the gods (or God, for that matter) are a concept of the human mind; they are the creatures of man, not vice versa. They are needed and invented to give meaning and purpose to the struggle that is life on Earth, to explain strange and irregular phenomena of nature, haphazard events and, above all, irrational human conduct. They exist to bear the burden of all things that cannot be comprehended except by supernatural intervention or design.”

“Policy is formed by preconceptions, by long implanted biases. When information is relayed to policy-makers, they respond in terms of what is already inside their heads and consequently make policy less to fit the facts than to fit the notions and intentions formed out of the mental baggage that has accumulated in their minds since childhood.”

Mind Long Facts Government Term Childhood Information Policy Fit Intention Notion Makers Baggage Preconceptions Policy Makers

Author:Barbara Tuchman

“Strong prejudices in an ill-formed mind are hazardous to government, and when combined with a position of power even more so.”

Thinking Mind Government Strong Power Position Prejudice Ill Position Of Power

Book:The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam

Source: The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam

“Nothing so comforts the military mind as the maxim of a great but dead general.”

Mind Military Comfort Maxims

Book:The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I; Barbara W. Tuchman's Great War Series

Source: The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I; Barbara W. Tuchman's Great War Series

“Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are engines of change, windows on the world, and (as a poet has said) "lighthouses erected in the sea of time." They are companions , teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.”

Mind Book Humanity Teacher Treasure Companion Print Magician Bankers Lighthouse Standstill

Author:Barbara Tuchman

“Dead battles, like dead generals, hold the military mind in their dead grip.”

Mind Military Battle

Author:Barbara Tuchman

“Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are engines of change (as the poet said), windows on the world and lighthouses erected in the sea of time. They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.”