Barbara W. Tuchman - A Distant Mirror (1978)

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Economic man and sensual man are not suppressible.

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

Barbara W. Tuchman
The system was aided by the Church, whose natural interests allied it more to the great than to the meek.

Barbara W. Tuchman
The ills and disorders of the 14th century could not be without consequence. Times were to grow worse over the next fifty-odd years until at some imperceptible moment, by the some mysterious chemistry, energies were refreshed, ideas broke out of the mold of the Middle Ages into new realms, and humanity found itself redirected.

Barbara W. Tuchman
That conflict between the reach for the divine and the lure of earthly things was to be the central problem of the Middle Ages.

Barbara W. Tuchman
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 W. Tuchman
Governments do not like to face radical remedies; it is easier to let politics predominate.

Barbara W. Tuchman
When commerce with Moslems flourished, zeal for their massacre declined.

Barbara W. Tuchman
As the era of the sword was ending, that of firearms began, in time to allow no lapse in man's belligerent capacity.

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

Barbara W. Tuchman
To put on the garment of legitimacy is the first aim of every coup.

Barbara W. Tuchman
Human beings of any age need to approve of themselves; the bad times in history come when they cannot.

Barbara W. Tuchman
If all were equalized by death, as the medieval idea constantly emphasized, was it not possible that inequalities on earth were contrary to the will of God?

Barbara W. Tuchman
Money was the crux. Raising money to pay the cost of war was to cause more damage to 14th century society than the physical destruction of war itself.

Barbara W. Tuchman
When reproached for spending too much time with books and clerks, Charles answered, As long as knowledge is honored in this country, so long will it prosper.

Barbara W. Tuchman
Christianity in its ideas was never the art of the possible.

Barbara W. Tuchman
Chroniclers habitually matched numbers to the awesomeness of the event.

Barbara W. Tuchman