Norman Davies

Under Lenin, hardly less than under Stalin, historians harbored critical opinions at their peril. The writing, let alone the publication, of political diaries was virtually impossible.

Any historian worth their salt should be aware of wars, conflicts, catastrophes. They happen. This is part of the panorama.

The advance of standard English culture was less assisted by government policy than by the sheer weight, wealth, and number of England's well-established cultural institutions.

The historical profession is nowhere famous for its tolerance, but there are not many countries where historians can expect to pay for their opinions with penal servitude or the firing squad.

It's the historian's job not to ridicule the myths, but to show the difference between myth and reality.

Law and Justice are the most vindictive gang in Europe.

The Law and Justice government does not want a bunch of foreign historians to decide what goes on in 'their' museum.

All political institutions will end sooner or later. The question is when and how.

Only by painting the great panorama of history, can the great history-reading public be entertained or satisfied.

Nearly all interested parties think I write too shortly on the subjects that interest them most.

I can just remember the blitz of Manchester, or perhaps my father's tales about the blitz of Manchester. I can remember the blackout, the powdered eggs, and the gas masks. But I think no British person should pretend that being resident in England could count as being in the thick of the action.

Every austerity measure that Cameron and George Osborne make is being presented in Scotland as the English starving us.