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Niall Ferguson

Niall Ferguson Quotes

Historian

Niall Ferguson is a prominent historian specializing in the history of the British Empire, financial history, and global history since 1800. He has authored numerous books and held academic positions at Harvard University and the University of Oxford.

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Famous Niall Ferguson Quotes

“The Armenian genocide showed what could happen when empires were beaten into nations.”

Happens Nations History Empires Genocide Beaten Armenians Armenian Genocide

Author:Niall Ferguson

“Empires, essentially, create order. In their absence, you don't end up with lots of happy, little nation-states full of people sitting around campfires singing John Lennon's "Imagine." What you end up with is civil war, anarchy.”

People Littles War Ends States Order Nations Imagine Singing Sitting Absence Civil War Empires Anarchy Sitting Around Lennon Campfire

Author:Niall Ferguson

“My arguments for liberal empire or whatever you want to call it - hegemony, primacy, you name it - are really activated by a sense that the alternatives involve more violence, more repression, more hardship.”

Want Names Violence Argument Alternatives Empires Hardship Repression Hegemony Primacy

Author:Niall Ferguson

“All empires have depended on local legitimacy and local collaboration; they are not based primarily on coercion. An imperial rule that relies wholly on coercion can't endure. It's too expensive.”

Endure Locals Rely Expensive Empires Collaboration Coercion Legitimacy

Author:Niall Ferguson

“I think the condition of imperial denial is a handicap because if you do not recognize that you are essentially performing the functions of an empire, you are incapable of learning from the mistakes of past empires.”

Ifs Thinking Past Mistake Conditions Function Denial Performing Empires Incapable Handicaps

Author:Niall Ferguson

“You really struggle to be a successful empire if you are also the world's biggest debtor.”

Ifs World Struggle Successful Empires Debtors

Author:Niall Ferguson

“American Empire- it is an empire that lacks the drive to export its capital, its people and its culture to those backward regions which need them most urgently and which, if they are neglected, will breed the greatest threats to its security. It is an empire, in short, that dare not speak its name. It is an empire in denial.”

People Ifs Needs Culture Names Speak Security Threat Dare Denial Empires Regions Neglected American Empire

Book:Empire: the rise and demise of the British world order and the lessons for global power

Source: Empire: the rise and demise of the British world order and the lessons for global power

About the Author

Born: April 18, 1964
Known for: Historian
Quotes: 43

Related Topics

Ifs History Empires West Civilization Firsts Country Ends Men People States Western Western Civilization America Average Century Collaboration Consequence Denial Financial

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Books & Sources

Civilization: The West and the RestRelated source material

The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the WorldRelated source material

Empire: the rise and demise of the British world order and the lessons for global powerRelated source material

Sivilisaatio : me ja muutRelated source material

The Great DegenerationRelated source material

The House of Rothschild: Money's prophets, 1798-1848Related source material

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