Quotes by Hobsbawm, E. J.

Nations without a past are contradictions in terms. What makes a natio >>

Historians are to nationalism what poppy-growers in Pakistan are to he >>

There is not much that even the most socially responsible scientists c >>

Quotations about War

A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except >>

War is the statesman's game, the priest's delight, The lawyer's jest, >>

If any question why we died, tell them, because our fathers lied. >>

War has been the most convenient pseudo-solution for the problems of twentieth-century capitalism. It provides the incentives to modernization and technological revolution which the market and the pursuit of profit do only fitfully and by accident, it makes the unthinkable (such as votes for women and the abolition of unemployment) not merely thinkable but practicable. What is equally important, it can re-create communities of men and give a temporary sense to their lives by uniting them against foreigners and outsiders. This is an achievement beyond the power of the private enterprise economy when left to itself.

Hobsbawm, E. J.