12 quotes
Someone once said that history is written by the victors. He probably was not the greatest of all victors, if only because his name has been utterly forgotten.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956)
The contrast between the morals at the centre of power and those practiced by wide communities in many subject lands presented problems of ever growing unrest.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956)
Time after time, history ran over the luddites and romanticists, those who sought to restore the old and delay the new. And every time, history did it with faster, more reliable and more advanced vehicles.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956)
The cities are everywhere in decline. Trade, industry and agriculture bend under the weight of taxation.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956)
The lights of Saxon England were going out, and in the gathering darkness a gentle, grey-beard prophet foretold the end. When on his death-bed Edward spoke of a time of evil that was coming upon the land his inspired mutterings struck terror into the hearers.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956)
Thus ended the great American Civil War, which upon the whole must be considered the noblest and least avoidable of all the great mass conflicts of which till then there was record.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956)
The picture rises before us vivid and bright: the finely carved, dragon-shaped prow; the high, curving stern; the long row of shields, black and yellow alternately, ranged along the sides; the gleam of steel; the scent of murder.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956)
It is vain to recount further the catalogue of miseries. In earlier ages such horrors remain unknown because unrecorded. Just enough flickering light plays upon this infernal scene to give us the sense of its utter desolation and hopeless wretchedness and cruelty.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956)
William now directed his archers to shoot high into the air, so that the arrows would fall behind the shield-wall, and one of these pierced Harold in the right-eye, inflicting a mortal wound. He fell at the foot of the royal standard, unconquerable except by death, which does not count in honour. The hard-fought battle was now decided.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956)
Apparently, as in so many ancient battles, the beaten side were the victims of misunderstanding and the fate of the day was decided against them before the bulk of the forces realised that a serious engagement had begun. Reserves descended from the hills too late to achieve victory, but in good time to be massacred in the rout.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956)
Joan was a being so uplifted from the ordinary run of mankind that she finds no equal in a thousand years. She embodied the natural goodness and valour of the human race in unexampled perfection. Unconquerable courage, infinite compassion, the virtue of the simple, the wisdom of the just, shone forth in her. She glorifies as she freed the soil from which she sprang.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956)
A group of pagan ruffians and pirates had gained possession of an effective military and naval machine, but they faced a mass of formidable veterans whom they had to feed and manage, and for whom they must provide killings. Such men make plans, and certainly their descent upon England was one of the most carefully considered and elaborately prepared villainies of that dark time.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956)