“the military system of a nation is not an independent section of the social system but an aspect of its totality.”

“The historians task is not to disrupt for the sake of it, but it is to tell what is almost always an uncomfortable story and explain why the discomfort is part of the truth we need to live well and...”

“in a constitutionally ordered state, where laws are derived from broad principles of right and wrong and where those principles are enshrined and protected by agreed upon procedures and practices, ...”

“We need to learn... how war brutalises and degrades winners and losers alike and what happens to us when, having heedlessly waged war for no good reason, we are encouraged to inflate and demonise o...”

“We have responsibilities for others, not just across space but across time. We have responsibilities to people who came before us. They left us a world of institutions, ideas or possibilities for w...”

“I see myself as, first and above all, a teacher of history; next, a writer of European history; next, a commentator on European affairs; next, a public intellectual voice within the American left; ...”

“Blood is one of the things that made fights cool. Like, you knew it had gotten serious. I understand why we don't do it anymore.”

“If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?”

“Why is it that I notice so many brilliant scientists using Macs for their personal computers why does the Lawrence Livermore & Berkeley Labs buy millions of dollars worth of Macs? ”

“Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”

“The trouble with a kitten is that eventually it becomes a cat.”

“When I get logical, and I don't trust my instincts - that's when I get in trouble.”

“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”

“As Blake wrote in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”

“It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living.”