Welcome to a collection of insightful and thought-provoking quotes by Margaret MacMillan, a renowned historian whose works have left an indelible mark on our understanding of history, diplomacy, and human nature. Margaret MacMillan, known for her eloquence and depth of insight, has crafted narratives that delve into the complexities of past events, shedding light on their relevance to contemporary society. As a distinguished academic and author, MacMillan’s words resonate with wisdom, offering invaluable perspectives on the intricacies of global affairs, politics, and the human condition.
Through her extensive research and scholarly endeavors, Margaret MacMillan has become a voice of authority in historical analysis, exploring pivotal moments in history with nuance and clarity. Her works, such as Paris 1919 and The War That Ended Peace, have garnered international acclaim for their meticulous research and compelling storytelling, providing readers with profound insights into the events that have shaped our world. As we delve into the quotes curated from her works and speeches, we invite you to contemplate the timeless wisdom they impart and consider their relevance in our ever-evolving world. Explore these quotes below, and perhaps discover a new perspective or inspiration for your own journey through history and beyond.
Exercising power can do strange things to people. You can become convinced that you’re irreplaceable. You can become convinced that you’re always right. And I think the danger is the longer you stay in power, the more likely that is to happen. Margaret MacMillan
I’m always wary of the lessons of the past. There’s a lot of past out there, and you can draw whatever lessons you want. Margaret MacMillan
As history reminds us again and again, wars are not always made on the basis of rational calculations: often the contrary. Margaret MacMillan
Theodore Roosevelt’s policy to build a two-ocean navy confirmed that the old-style isolationism of the founders had not survived the modern, increasingly globalized world. Margaret MacMillan
Modernism was born in part out of the need to find fresh ways of expression, to describe a new world that was unlike anything that had gone before. Margaret MacMillan
George W. Bush, judging by his repeated invocations, thinks that time will eventually prove that he was right. He is not alone in putting his faith in the future. Margaret MacMillan
For many human beings, an interest in the past starts with themselves. That is, in part, a result of biology. Like other creatures, humans have a beginning and an ending, and in between lies their story. Margaret MacMillan
If we do not, as historians, write the history of great events as well as the small stories that make up the past, others will, and they will not necessarily do it well. Margaret MacMillan
It took a world war, between 1914 and 1918, to draw the United States into a deeper and more sustained relationship with the wider world. Margaret MacMillan
The Great War was nobody’s fault – or everybody’s. Margaret MacMillan
The act of apology is something that most societies take very seriously indeed. It is an admission of wrong done to the victims and an acceptance of blame. Margaret MacMillan
Hubris is interesting, because you get people who are often very clever, very powerful, have achieved great things, and then something goes wrong – they just don’t know when to stop. Margaret MacMillan
Climate change respects no borders. Margaret MacMillan
How curious that such an outsize man, in physique as well as personality, should be remembered today mainly for giving his name to a small fish. For the 19th century, Bismarck was no herring but a leviathan. Between 1862 and 1890, he created Germany, seeing off first the Austrian empire and then France. Margaret MacMillan
You shouldn’t expect people in the past to do things they couldn’t have done. Margaret MacMillan
Living through times of rapid change can be exhilarating, but it also can be very difficult. Margaret MacMillan
Individual lives remind us that there is something called a common humanity and that, over the centuries, there have been people who have lived and breathed and sometimes worried about very different things and sometimes worried about the same things we do. Margaret MacMillan
War is a crucial, deeply ingrained part of human history. It has to be understood. Margaret MacMillan
Managing the relationship with a giant neighbour has been central to our foreign policy for more than a century. Trade and investment, as well as people, have flowed back and forth across the border, and the U.S. is, by far, our biggest trading partner. Margaret MacMillan
I think what we should do as historians is understand. And we can have our own views about how things turned out, but I think, in making judgements, we’re getting into tricky territory. Margaret MacMillan
History matters. Margaret MacMillan
I wish we could see understanding the First World War as a European issue, or even a global one, and not a nationalistic one. Margaret MacMillan
The passion for the past is clearly about more than market forces or government policies. History responds to a variety of needs, from greater understanding of ourselves and our world to answers about what to do. Margaret MacMillan
How can even the best novelist or playwright invent someone like Augustus Caesar or Catherine the Great, Galileo or Florence Nightingale? How can screenwriters create better action stories or human dramas than exist, thousand upon thousand, throughout the many centuries of recorded history? Margaret MacMillan
It’s not going to be easy to create a world where both sides prefer peace, but we have to try. Margaret MacMillan
If we don’t take responsibility for each other, it seems to me the future is going to be even bleaker. Margaret MacMillan
The trouble with the First World War, for example, is that people think war was inevitable, but I don’t agree. If you look at the Cold War, you could argue that a war was bound to happen between the Soviet Union and its allies and the United States and its allies, but it didn’t. Margaret MacMillan
I tend to think history is more a branch of literature than science. Margaret MacMillan
No one is always right. Margaret MacMillan
The only person, if you’re a religious person, who’s always right is God. And if you make the mistake of thinking that you, like God, are always right, and that you, like God, always know everything, then it seems to me you’re riding for a fall. Margaret MacMillan
By the start of August 1914, it was dawning on the British that a major war was about to break out on mainland Europe. Public opinion and, crucially, the cabinet was deeply divided on whether to intervene or stay out. Margaret MacMillan
The Italian futurists, the German expressionists, and the British vorticists were fascinated by speed and the ways the modern world was shattering conventions. The old ways of painting, writing, sculpting, and composing no longer seemed adequate to capture the world. Margaret MacMillan
Women throughout history have had to defy rigid conventions about what is and is not expected of them. Margaret MacMillan
In the 19th century, we didn’t much like the loud annexationist voices south of the border or American support for Sinn Fein adventurers who thought, by seizing the Canadian colonies, they could force Britain out of Ireland. Margaret MacMillan
A large part of Canada heads for Florida, California, and Hawaii in the winter to get away from the snow. Margaret MacMillan
An apology offered and, equally important, received is a step towards reconciliation and, sometimes, recompense. Without that process, hurts can rankle and fester and erupt into their own hatreds and wrongdoings. Margaret MacMillan
Some might argue humans are hard-wired to fight. I don’t agree: we are conscious beings who have the capacity to make decisions. Margaret MacMillan
A lot of my father’s family in Canada volunteered in the First World War because they saw it as a war that was defending the mother country. Margaret MacMillan
Are artists the canaries in the mine, warning of the coming explosion before anyone else? It’s hard to look at the world before 1914 and not wonder if they somehow felt a catastrophe was bearing down on them and their societies. Margaret MacMillan
We mistake being able to get lots of information from everywhere very quickly with actually getting knowledge. Margaret MacMillan
In my view, Germany could and should have made reparations for its aggression in World War I – but was the risk of renewed war worth forcing it to do so? Margaret MacMillan
Canadians see the Americans as cousins. We love the same sports: Canadians are crazy about baseball and basketball, and our beloved game of hockey is played all over the U.S. Margaret MacMillan
Nominally left- and right-wing populists differ primarily in their choice of which ‘others’ to exclude and attack, with the former singling out big corporations and oligarchs, and the latter targeting ethnic or religious minorities. Margaret MacMillan
Maintaining peace can be as strenuous as winning a war. Margaret MacMillan
As a child, I had loved history because it showed so many alternative worlds. Margaret MacMillan
I still remember with gratitude a series for children on everyday life where we learned about the games children in other times had played and the food they ate. Margaret MacMillan
If you read about millions of people doing this and millions of people doing that, history seems remote and inaccessible. Margaret MacMillan
American diplomats worked closely with the League of Nations. The United States used its considerable influence to settle some of the outstanding issues left over from World War I, and Washington took the lead in negotiating naval limitations in the Pacific. Margaret MacMillan
The range of weapons at the disposal of military powers is terrifying in its capacity to damage the world and its inhabitants, perhaps even to bring humanity’s long story to its end. Margaret MacMillan
I do tend to look at individuals and whether they do or do not matter in history. Margaret MacMillan
Women are so much a part of war, even if they tend to see another side of it. To say they don’t understand war is ridiculous. Margaret MacMillan
If a bully wants to beat you up, you have the choice of running away or standing your ground. In our society, we have police forces who try to control bullies, sometimes by force. Margaret MacMillan
The word ‘populism’ was everywhere in 2016. Political leaders claiming to speak for the people have achieved significant victories in Europe, Asia, and, with the election of Donald Trump, the United States. Margaret MacMillan
History does not produce definitive answers for all time. It is a process. Margaret MacMillan
I’m interested in the balance between big currents in history – the economies, the ideologies, social structures, and so on – and the decisions that people have to make. At the heart of all these great decisions to go to war, there are human beings who have to say, ‘Yes, let’s do it,’ or ‘No, we won’t do it.’ Margaret MacMillan
It is true that large parts of the world have not had to endure state-to-state wars for decades. The majority of the world’s nations have also been spared the scourge of civil wars, although many have known violence from revolutionary insurrection. Margaret MacMillan
Many in the English-speaking world came to agree with the Germans that the Treaty of Versailles, and the reparations in particular, were unjust, and that Lloyd George had capitulated to the vengeful French. Margaret MacMillan
As a Canadian, I’ve always approached international history as an outsider, neither attacking nor defending key decisions – those were made by actors who are also major figures within national historical traditions for American and British scholars. Margaret MacMillan
I’ve always loved reading diaries and memoirs and just getting a sense of different personalities and what made them tick as individuals. Margaret MacMillan
If you start thinking war is inevitable, then in your own times, you don’t resist it as strongly as you should. Margaret MacMillan
Poor little Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, or whatever her name is. It must be incredible at that age to be surrounded by people telling you you’re wonderful. Margaret MacMillan
There was that argument that if we had more women in positions of authority, the world would be a nicer place. And then we got Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Indira Gandhi. When women become acclimatised to war, they can become every bit as ruthless as men. Margaret MacMillan
I like to think I’m a recovering historian. Margaret MacMillan
Women are interested in relationships and how other societies manage those relationships. They may have been constrained in what roles were open to them, but they could question and observe, and they could write it down. Margaret MacMillan
Use it, enjoy it, but always handle history with care. Margaret MacMillan
Political orientation is unimportant in populism because it does not deal in evidence or detailed proposals for change but in the manipulation of feelings by charismatic leaders. Margaret MacMillan
The cubism of Braque or Picasso, the dissonant compositions of Schoenberg or Stravinsky, the free-flowing and often erotic choreography of Isadora Duncan and Nijinsky – these were acts of rebellion against the certainties and traditions of the old world. Margaret MacMillan
I did projects on Champlain coming up the St. Lawrence River and on Henry Hudson cast adrift in the bay that now bears his name. And I read dozens of historical novels: Rosemary Sutcliff on Roman Britain and G. A. Henty on British heroes, though my all-time favourite was Ronald Welch’s ‘Knight Crusader.’ Margaret MacMillan
History belongs to everyone. I don’t think you have to give up scholarly standards. But I also don’t think you want to write something that is impenetrable. You try as hard as you can to be readable. Margaret MacMillan
When I sat down to make a list of characters in history who exhibited curiosity, most were women. I thought it was sheer accident, and then I began to wonder. Margaret MacMillan
Our interest in history always reflects our own times. Margaret MacMillan
The 1898 annexation of the Hawaiian Islands merely formally recognized what had long been American domination. Margaret MacMillan
I first read the ‘Raj Quartet’ in the early 1970s, when Paul Scott’s decision to set his novels in the dying days of the British Raj in India seemed an eccentric choice, almost as though he did not want readers. The British were tired of their imperial past. Margaret MacMillan
History can be helpful in making sense of the world we live in. It can also be fascinating, even fun. Margaret MacMillan
We must do our best to raise the public awareness of the past in all its richness and complexity. Margaret MacMillan
I’ve always been interested in war, but especially its effects on society, which means bringing in the voices of women, which aren’t heard as much in the grand narratives. Margaret MacMillan
Nuclear proliferation has never entirely been brought under control, and the arsenals of nuclear powers contain bombs far more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Margaret MacMillan
History is about great forces, yes, but also about contingency. Margaret MacMillan
When I first read Barbara Tuchman’s ‘The Guns of August’ in the autumn of 1963, it was as though history went from black and white to Technicolor. Margaret MacMillan
The Canadian government has had a field day apologising for past policies towards a series of ethnic groups: Italian, Ukrainian, Sikh, Chinese, Japanese and Jews. Margaret MacMillan
We can prevent fighting by limiting weapons or finding nonviolent ways to end disputes. Margaret MacMillan
Nigel Farage, the leader of the U.K. Independence Party, is a true populist; Senator Bernie Sanders, the former U.S. presidential candidate who campaigned for Hillary Clinton after losing his battle for the Democratic Party’s nomination, is not. Margaret MacMillan
I’m not sure I’m going to say that women and men are exactly the same. I think we may have different ways of approaching things, different sensitivities, and women are often better than men at picking up emotional cues. Margaret MacMillan
