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The Great Gatsby
Hamlet

Free Literature Study Guides
The Great Gatsby
Hamlet

Paul Johnson Quotes

Next to courage, willpower is the most important thing in politics.

– Paul Johnson

The United States is a concept that works very well, even in bad times. But that’s no reason to think its structure can be superimposed with success on any other part of the world, particularly when times are terrible.

– Paul Johnson

Like many physical diseases, anti-Semitism is highly infectious, and can become endemic in certain localities and societies. Though a disease of the mind, it is by no means confined to weak, feeble, or commonplace intellects; as history sadly records, its carriers have included men and women of otherwise powerful and subtle thoughts.

– Paul Johnson

Marxism, Freudianism, global warming. These are proof – of which history offers so many examples – that people can be suckers on a grand scale. To their fanatical followers they are a substitute for religion. Global warming, in particular, is a creed, a faith, a dogma that has little to do with science.

– Paul Johnson

The most evil person I ever met was a toss-up between Pablo Picasso and the publisher-crook Robert Maxwell.

– Paul Johnson

I like that lady – Sarah Palin. She’s great. I like the cut of her jib.

– Paul Johnson

A capitalist economy hums when leading businessmen are bubbling with animal spirits and are prepared to sink their money into risky ventures.

– Paul Johnson

I very much wanted to be editor of the ‘New Statesman!’ But I never wanted to be prime minister, except maybe as a little boy.

– Paul Johnson

Germany’s Angela Merkel exudes an atmosphere of elderly exhaustion and pooped-out pessimism. Britain’s David Cameron, though by nature exuberant, feels he has to look and sound glum. And France’s leader, Francois Hollande, seems determined to drive every successful businessman out of the country.

– Paul Johnson

The most intimidating world leader was Lyndon Johnson, who became U.S. President when John Kennedy was assassinated. He exulted in this power and liked to inspire fear.

– Paul Johnson

I don’t write huge books any more. I used to write 1,000 printed pages, but now I write short books. I did one on Napoleon, 50,000 words – enjoyed doing that. He was a baddie. I did one on Churchill, which was a bestseller in New York, I’m glad to say. 50,000 words. He was a goodie.

– Paul Johnson

Those who buy in to global warming wish to drastically curb human economic and industrial activities, regardless of the consequences for people, especially the poor.

– Paul Johnson

Human beings are infinitely worth studying, especially the peculiarities that often go along with outstanding gifts.

– Paul Johnson

I very much wanted to live in Paris when I was in the army, and I was quite determined to. I could have become a dress designer: Dior was willing to take me on as an assistant, but he did not have an immediate vacancy.

– Paul Johnson

Margaret Thatcher had more impact on the world than any woman ruler since Catherine the Great of Russia. Not only did she turn around – decisively – the British economy in the 1980s, she also saw her methods copied in more than 50 countries.

– Paul Johnson

As a child I found railroad stations exciting, mysterious, and even beautiful, as indeed they often were.

– Paul Johnson

Indeed, the study of universities and the great men and women who have attended them leads me to think that the best of these schools are characterized not so much by what they teach and how they teach it but by the extent they provide opportunities and encouragement for students to teach themselves.

– Paul Johnson

Courage is the essential element in any great public man or woman.

– Paul Johnson

The idea that human beings have changed and are changing the basic climate system of the Earth through their industrial activities and burning of fossil fuels – the essence of the Greens’ theory of global warming – has about as much basis in science as Marxism and Freudianism.

– Paul Johnson

Global warming, like Marxism, is a political theory of actions, demanding compliance with its rules.

– Paul Johnson

One of the categories of people I don’t like much are intellectuals. People say, ‘Oh, you’re an intellectual,’ and I say, ‘No!’ What is an intellectual? An intellectual is somebody who thinks ideas are more important than people.

– Paul Johnson

One of the marvelous things about Churchill is that whatever he was doing, whether fighting or arguing or despairing or bouncing about full of energy, jokes are never far away.

– Paul Johnson

Mr. Obama would be a disheartening president even during a super boom, with his grim demeanor and empty rhetoric, as well as his obvious hatred of business bravado.

– Paul Johnson

Long periods of recession, which tend to be self-perpetuating, are usually ended by war, or by preparations for it.

– Paul Johnson

The whole world depends on America ultimately, particularly Britain. And also, I love America – a marvelous country. But in a sense I don’t worry about America because I think America has such huge strengths – particularly its freedom of thought and expression – that it’s going to survive as a top nation for the foreseeable future.

– Paul Johnson

When people talk about political correctness, the only element of any value is good manners.

– Paul Johnson