Simon Jenkins > Quotes

“A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction.’ Even”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of England

“The contemporary Matthew Paris wrote that, ‘foul as it is, hell itself is defiled by the foulness of King John’. A bard sang that ‘no man may ever trust him, for his heart is soft and cowardly’. Yet this evil was catalyst for a greater good, Magna Carta.”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of England

“On his death even The Times remarked that, ‘never was an individual less regretted by his fellow creatures than this deceased king’.”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of England

“Crimea may have been a senseless war, but it rearranged Europe’s balance of power. Nicholas died in 1855, reputedly of shame over Crimea, to be succeeded by Alexander II (1855–81), a comparative liberal who conceded the final abolition of serfdom. This coincided with an outburst of Russian creativity, as if defeat had induced Russia to join Europe’s cultural community. Tolstoy fought at Crimea and brought the vastness of Russia into the drawing rooms of Europe. Dostoevsky brought its moral complexities. Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Mussorgski and Borodin and, soon after, the dramatist Chekhov were among Europe’s most inventive and popular artists. Alexander’s Moscow did not become a second Rome, but St Petersburg (Russia’s capital from 1712 to 1918) became a second Paris.”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of Europe: From Pericles to Putin

“Herodotus is said to have remarked, 'Every year we send ships at great cost and danger as far as Africa, to ask "Who are you? What are your laws? What is your language?"' Why is it, he asked, 'they never send ships to ask us'?”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of Europe: From Pericles to Putin

“In Yorkshire's Harewood chapel, frigid effigies of fifteenth-century warriors lie on their tombs like ships at anchor, bearing silent witness to the slaughter [of the War of the Roses].”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of England

“swollen bowels burst and an intolerable stench assailed the nostrils of bystanders”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of England

“The nation’s patriotic juices were stirred and the new music halls chanted, ‘We don’t want to fight but by jingo if we do, / We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men, we’ve got the money too.’ Such sentiments became known as jingoism.”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of England

“Architecture is not the same as building, engineering or fortification. These are about structure, a utilitarian response to our need for shelter and protection. Architecture is about how we choose to clothe that structure with meaning or delight. (Introduction)”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of British Architecture: From Stonehenge to the Shard