The male clerk with his quill pen and copper-plate handwriting had gone for good. The female short-hand typist took his place. It was a decisive moment in women's emancipation.
A. J. P. TaylorRead
There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the establishment and nothing more corrupting.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a tension between the comfort of conformity and the moral corruption that can arise from it.
A. J. P. Taylor's quote suggests that while achieving peace with established norms and structures can bring a sense of comfort and agreement in life, it can simultaneously lead to ethical decay and corruption. This duality highlights the complexity of human relationships with authority and acceptance, prompting us to consider the costs of complacency.
Themes
PeaceCorruptionEstablishmentComfortAuthority
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about social conformity in a leadership seminar.
More from A. J. P. Taylor
All quotes →In 1917 European history, in the old sense, came to an end. World history began. It was the year of Lenin and Woodrow Wilson, both of whom repudiated the traditional standards of political behaviour. Both preached Utopia, Heaven on Earth. It was the moment of birth for our contemporary world.
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Though the object of being a Great Power is to be able to fight a Great War, the only way of remaining a Great Power is not to fight one.
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If there had been no troublemakers, no Dissenters, we should still be living in caves.
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Bismarck fought 'necessary' wars and killed thousands, the idealists of the twentieth century fight 'just' wars and kill millions.
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He was what I often think is a dangerous thing for a statesman to be - a student of history; and like most of those who study history, he learned from the mistakes of the past how to make new ones.
A. J. P. TaylorRead
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