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" Courage is the essential element in any great public man or woman. "
Paul Johnson
Public
Any
Courage
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" In the long term, it is desirable that the human race, faced with the prospect of extinction on Earth, should prepare an escape route for itself to another inhabitable planet. "
Paul Johnson
Escape
Long
Human
" The image of the scientist who puts the pursuit of truth before anything else has been shattered and replaced by a man on the make or a quasi-religious enthusiast who wants to prove his case at any cost. Science is becoming the tool of campaigning warfare, in which truth is the first casualty. "
Paul Johnson
Truth
Prove
Man
" Where the quest for knowledge is relatively, and now almost absolutely, unrestrained, the public benefit will be great, especially where the certainty of the law ensures that knowledge is rewarded. This is exactly the combination that is the foundation of wealth-creation. "
Paul Johnson
Foundation
Now
Law
" If anti-Semitism is a variety of racism, it is a most peculiar variety, with many unique characteristics. In my view as a historian, it is so peculiar that it deserves to be placed in a quite different category. I would call it an intellectual disease, a disease of the mind, extremely infectious and massively destructive. "
Paul Johnson
Unique
View
Intellectual
" I like that lady - Sarah Palin. She's great. I like the cut of her jib. "
Paul Johnson
Great
She
Like
" In all its myriad manifestations, the language of anti-Semitism through the ages is a dictionary of non-sequiturs and antonyms, a thesaurus of illogic and inconsistency. "
Paul Johnson
Ages
Language
Dictionary
" At some time in their careers, most good historians itch to write a history of the world, endeavor to discover what makes humanity the most destructive and creative of species. "
Paul Johnson
World
Time
History
" What strikes the historian surveying anti-Semitism worldwide over more than two millennia is its fundamental irrationality. It seems to make no sense, any more than malaria or meningitis makes sense. "
Paul Johnson
Over
Seems
Sense
" Long periods of recession, which tend to be self-perpetuating, are usually ended by war, or by preparations for it. "
Paul Johnson
Periods
Long
Which
" I very much wanted to live in Paris when I was in the army, and I was quite determined to. I could have become a dress designer: Dior was willing to take me on as an assistant, but he did not have an immediate vacancy. "
Paul Johnson
Me
Live
Army
" Is there any possibility of giving international air travel, which we all need and use and hate, a touch of glamour, or even of reliable, soulless efficiency? I suspect future historians will puzzle over our failure. But by then, of course, we shall be in the age of mass space travel, with its fresh and unimaginable crop of horrors. "
Paul Johnson
Hate
Failure
Travel
" I don't write huge books any more. I used to write 1,000 printed pages, but now I write short books. I did one on Napoleon, 50,000 words - enjoyed doing that. He was a baddie. I did one on Churchill, which was a bestseller in New York, I'm glad to say. 50,000 words. He was a goodie. "
Paul Johnson
Words
Short
Now
" In the past, the U.S. has shown its capacity to reinvent its gifts for leadership. During the 1970s, in the aftermath of the Nixon abdication and the Ford and Carter presidencies, the whole nation peered into the abyss, was horrified by what it saw and elected Ronald Reagan as president, which began a national resurgence. "
Paul Johnson
Gifts
Past
Nation
" I very much wanted to be editor of the 'New Statesman!' But I never wanted to be prime minister, except maybe as a little boy. "
Paul Johnson
Never
Boy
Little
" Those who buy in to global warming wish to drastically curb human economic and industrial activities, regardless of the consequences for people, especially the poor. "
Paul Johnson
Consequences
People
Wish
" Democracy has many enemies, and the terrorist is only one of them. "
Paul Johnson
Only
Them
Enemies
" To many, Heathrow in August is a paradigm of Hell. "
Paul Johnson
Many
Paradigm
Hell
" The United States is a concept that works very well, even in bad times. But that's no reason to think its structure can be superimposed with success on any other part of the world, particularly when times are terrible. "
Paul Johnson
Think
World
Bad Times
" The most intimidating world leader was Lyndon Johnson, who became U.S. President when John Kennedy was assassinated. He exulted in this power and liked to inspire fear. "
Paul Johnson
Who
Fear
Power
" Global warming, like Marxism, is a political theory of actions, demanding compliance with its rules. "
Paul Johnson
Rules
Actions
Compliance
" The freedom enjoyed in Western society under the rule of law and constitutional government explains both the quality of its civilization and its wealth. "
Paul Johnson
Quality
Society
Government
" The most evil person I ever met was a toss-up between Pablo Picasso and the publisher-crook Robert Maxwell. "
Paul Johnson
Met
Person
Evil
" The only thing to be said for air travel is speed. It makes possible travel on a scale unimaginable before our present age. Between the ages of 20 and four-score I visited every country in Europe, all save two in Latin America, ditto in Africa, and most of Asia, not counting eight trips to Australia and 60 to the United States - all by air. "
Paul Johnson
Travel
Age
America
" Human beings are infinitely worth studying, especially the peculiarities that often go along with outstanding gifts. "
Paul Johnson
Human
Go
Studying
" Indeed, the study of universities and the great men and women who have attended them leads me to think that the best of these schools are characterized not so much by what they teach and how they teach it but by the extent they provide opportunities and encouragement for students to teach themselves. "
Paul Johnson
Me
Women
Think
" Germany's Angela Merkel exudes an atmosphere of elderly exhaustion and pooped-out pessimism. Britain's David Cameron, though by nature exuberant, feels he has to look and sound glum. And France's leader, Francois Hollande, seems determined to drive every successful businessman out of the country. "
Paul Johnson
Look
Drive
Successful
" Marxism, Freudianism, global warming. These are proof - of which history offers so many examples - that people can be suckers on a grand scale. To their fanatical followers they are a substitute for religion. Global warming, in particular, is a creed, a faith, a dogma that has little to do with science. "
Paul Johnson
Faith
Proof
Science
" The planet Earth, though not threatened with destruction by man-made global warming, is by no means indestructible. There are many unpredictable events within our solar system, and still more outside it, that could make Earth uninhabitable by humans. "
Paul Johnson
Global Warming
Earth
Solar
" One of the categories of people I don't like much are intellectuals. People say, 'Oh, you're an intellectual,' and I say, 'No!' What is an intellectual? An intellectual is somebody who thinks ideas are more important than people. "
Paul Johnson
Ideas
Important
More
" I was very fond of Princess Diana. She used to have me over to lunch to ask my advice. I'd give her good advice, and she'd say: 'I entirely agree. Paul, you're so right.' Then she'd go and do the opposite. "
Paul Johnson
You
Princess
Good