Norman Davies citáty

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Norman Davies

Datum narození: 8. červen 1939

Norman Davies je britský historik velšského původu, který se ve svých pracích zaměřil na historii Polska, Evropy a Britských ostrovů.

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Norman Davies 1

britský historik 1939

„Popularita knih a filmů zabývající se válkou a násilím se dá srovnat s pornografií....svědčí o potěšení, které poskytuje zástupné uspokojení frustrovaných sklonů.“

válka knihy

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„It is indeed the duty of historians to stress the contrast between
the standards of the past and the standards of the present. Some
fulfil that duty on purpose, others by accident.“ Europe

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„One has to put aside the popular notion that language and culture are endlessly passed on from generation to generation, rather as if ‘Scottishness’ or ‘Englishness’ were essential constituents of some national genetic code. If this were so, it would never be possible to forge new nations – like the United States of America or Australia – from diverse ethnic elements.“ Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„The Fascist utopia, like that of the Communists, was false, and generated immense suffering. But there were those who dreamed it sincerely.“ Europe

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„Only a Christian culture could have produced a Voltaire or a Nietzsche. I do not believe that the culture of Europe could survive the complete disappearance of the Christian Faith.“ Europe: A History

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„To make his point, Ivan staged a sensational demonstration. Some time before Christmas he had arrested two Lithuanians employed in the Moscow Kremlin. He charged them with plotting to poison him. The accusations against Jan Lukhomski and Maciej the Pole did not sound very credible; but their guilt or innocence was hardly relevant. They were held in an open cage on the frozen Moskva River for all the world to see; and on the eve of the departure of Ivan’s envoy to Lithuania, they were burned alive in their cage.50 As the ice melted under the fierce heat of the fire and the heavy iron cage sank beneath the water, taking its carbonized occupants down in a great hiss of steam, one could have well imagined that something was being said about Lithuania’s political future.“ Europe

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„An ambassador’, quipped Sir Henry Wootton, ‘is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.“ Europe

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„Wcześniej czy później dekonstrukcjonistów zdekonstruują ich własne metody. "Przeżyliśmy Śmierć Boga i Śmierć Człowieka. Z pewnością przeżyjemy także Śmierć Historii... i Śmierć Postmodernizmu.“ Europe

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„The big question about the hunter-gatherers, therefore, does not seem to be ‘How did they progress towards the higher level of an agricultural and politicised society?’ but ‘What persuaded them to abandon the secure, well-provided and psychologically liberating advantages of their primordial lifestyle?’.1“ Europe: A History

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„Culture is something that must grow. You cannot build a tree; you can only plant it, and care for it, and wait for it to mature...“ Europe: A History

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„The immediate future may be determined by a race between the United Kingdom and the EU over which beats the other to a major crisis.“ Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„The history of Royal Prussia, which fell into the Polish orbit, is little known to those who approach the Prussian story from an exclusively German perspective. (The subject was actively suppressed by bans and book-burnings when the Hohenzollerns eventually took over.) Yet for 300 years this ‘Other Prussia’ flourished, not only as a separate institutional entity, but as the source of a separate political ideology and culture, based on concepts of freedom and liberty. Though the population was ethically mixed, Polish and German – with a strong German predominance in the cities – the corporate identity and fierce local patriotism of Royal Prussia digressed markedly from the values with which the name of ‘Prussia’ is usually associated.“ Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„Every 30 seconds, it transmitted portions of [a Chopin Polonaise] to tell the world that the capital was still in Polish hands. Angered by the unexpected setback, the German High Command decided to pound the stubborn citadel into submission. In round-the-clock raids, bombers knocked out flourmills, gasworks, power plants and reservoirs, then sowed the residential areas with incendiaries. One witness, passing scenes of carnage, enumerated the horrors: ‘Everywhere corpses, wounded humans, dead horses... and hastily-dug graves.’... Finally food ran out, and famished Poles, as one man put it, ‘cut off flesh as soon as a horse fell, leaving only the skeleton.’ On September 28, Warsaw Radio replaced the polonaise with a funeral dirge.15“ Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„That the United Kingdom will collapse is a foregone conclusion. Sooner or later, all states do collapse, and ramshackle, asymmetric dynastic amalgamations are more vulnerable than cohesive nation-states. Only the ‘how’ and the ‘when’ are mysteries of the future. An exhaustive study of the many pillars on which British power and prestige were built – ranging from the monarchy, the Royal Navy and the Empire to the Protestant Ascendancy, the Industrial Revolution, Parliament and Sterling – indicated that all without exception were in decline; some were already defunct, others seriously diminished or debilitated; it suggests that the last act may come sooner rather than later.110 Nothing implies that the end will necessarily be violent; some political organisms dissolve quietly. All it means is that present structures will one day disappear, and be replaced by something else.“ Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe

Norman Davies 48

British historian 1939

„Also in 1492, and also for the first time, the ‘new Constantinople—Moscow’ may have been given its more familiar label of ‘the Third Rome’.“ Europe: A History