Diplomacy means all the wicked devices of the Old World, spheres of influence, balances of power, secret treaties, triple alliances, and, during the interim period, appeasement of Fascism. – Barbara Tuchman
War is the unfolding of miscalculations. – Barbara Tuchman
Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. – Barbara Tuchman
The fleet sailed to its war base in the North Sea, headed not so much for some rendezvous with glory as for rendezvous with discretion. – Barbara Tuchman
No more distressing moment can ever face a British government than that which requires it to come to a hard, fast and specific decision. – Barbara Tuchman
To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse. – Barbara Tuchman
The unrecorded past is none other than our old friend, the tree in the primeval forest which fell without being heard. – Barbara Tuchman
