Skip to content

The social damage was not in the failure but in the undertaking, which was expensive. The cost of war was the poison running through the 14th century.

— Barbara Tuchman A Distant Mirror (1978)

Another quote →

Topics

War

More quotes by Barbara Tuchman

When truth and reason cannot be heard, then must presumption rule.

A Distant Mirror (1978)

Nothing is more certain than death and nothing uncertain but its hour.

A Distant Mirror (1978)

Against men habituated to lawless force, violent punishment failed to bring the violence under control.

A Distant Mirror (1978)

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

A Distant Mirror (1978)

For most people reform meant relief from ecclesiastical extortions.

A Distant Mirror (1978)

All Barbara Tuchman quotes →

You may also like

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

The last half of the 20th century will seem like a wild party for rich kids, compared to what's coming now.

Hunter S. Thompson

Only the dead have seen the end of war.

George Santayana Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies (1922)

Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.

Ulysses S. Grant Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Barbara Tuchman (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.