We must admit that history is enjoyable to a large extent because it enables us to pass judgment on the past.

There is no consensus even today on the merits of Napoleon - and certainly no agreement on the rights and wrongs of the origins of the First World War.

Men like Hitler and Stalin and their immediate lieutenants cannot plead in defence of their actions that these were justified by the accepted values of that time.

Prison is an expensive way of making bad people worse.

We, Britain and Germany, can neither of us be happy about our handling of the Iraq war.

Margaret Thatcher, growing up in a bombed and battered Britain, derived a distrust which has grown with the years not just of Germany but of all continental Europe.

It is normal for politicians in all countries to profess themselves the pupils of history, anxious to draw the right lessons from her teaching.

History provides no precise guidelines.

But Germany will always suffer, I fear, from the intensely dramatic character of the crimes of the Third Reich.

We should be wary of politicians who profess to follow history while only noticing those signposts of history that point in the direction which they themselves already favour.

The tragedy of 9/11 galvanised the American superpower into action, leaving us in Europe divided in its wake.

Look on the bright side, " said Simon, "If they need a human sacrifice, you can always offer me. I'm not sure the rest of you qualify anyway.

Learning a language is not interesting than knowing how it works.

Government can contribute to a shared sense of purpose on the part of the citizenry that's its highest and best application.

I think the downside of the Internet is that speaking-or writing-has become the point in and of itself.

Often you see a famous actor who says they produced something, when all they did was claim to have an idea at a dinner party and make three phone calls.

The worst thing in the world is to try to sleep and not to.

People can't relate to someone who only talks about their successes.

Chance favours the trained mind.

If all men were rich, all men would be poor.