Barbara W. Tuchman

“War is the unfolding of miscalculations.”

“For a festering grievance, nothing is more potent than the feeling that one has been ignored.”

“The amateur, whether in politics or warfare, is almost inevitably a ruthless sentimentalist.”

“Wooden-headedness, the source of self-deception, is a factor that plays a remarkably large role in government.”

“A phenomenon noticeable throughout history regardless of place or period is the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests.”

“Learning from experience is a faculty almost never practiced.”

“Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.”

“The best reason for putting anything on paper is that one may then be rid of it.”

“It is a human inclination to hope things will work out, despite evidence to the contrary, and to believe what one wants to believe.”

“Men will not believe what does not fit in with their plans or suit their pre-arrangements.”

“Strong prejudices in an ill-formed mind are hazardous to government, and when combined with a position of power even more so.”

“No one is so vulnerable to delusion as the man who is sure he is right.”

“Disaster is rarely as pervasive as it seems from recorded accounts.”

“The writer's object is to hold the reader's attention.”