Paul Johnson Quotes

For more than 1000 years our spiritual traditions and common values have been nurtured and begotten here. Today, as we restore the value of patriotism, historical memory and cultural tradition, we are seeking firmer bonds with Mount Athos.

All the things that are part of your heritage make you British - that makes this country what it is. It's part of your history. And here, unlike America, it's still living history.

Nations without a past are contradictions in terms. What makes a nation is the past, what justifies one nation against others is the past, and historians are the people who produce it.

For my part, I do not believe that the country is in danger. I think England is safe in the race of men who inhabit her; that she is safe in something much more precious than her accumulated capital — her accumulated experience; she is safe in her national character, in her fame, in the traditions of a thousand years, and in that glorious future which I believe awaits her.

We are reminded here of our past, of the continuity of our national story, and the virtues of resilience, ingenuity, and tolerance which created it…

No people can live in the past - not even in its own past. But if it no longer has a link with its history, it must of necessity perish. Persia, crowded with hardship and glory, ordeals and hopes. With the help of the Almighty, the lessons of the past constitute the best guide for the citizens of the future.

Victorian values…were the values when our country became great.

Nothing is more difficult, in general, than to make a nation perceive anything as true, or seek its own interest, in any manner but as its forefathers have opined and acted.

A deep meaning resides in old customs.

I think the history and the past we have is just an energy we've built up to do what we do now.

Societies need heroes. So we travel to places where the revisionists cannot dismantle the great.

I think that America has an obsession with history, really.

There's probably more in the American tradition than people give the place credit for.

India is a curious place that still preserves the past, religions, and its history. No matter how modern India becomes, it is still very much an old country.

I'm English and love England. Whenever I'm there, I'm always seeing the present but feeling its past.

A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.

Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.

I like traditions, and the national anthem is important.

I do think the past changes at a slower rate. It sits a little more still for its portrait.

The importance of education is ingrained in Scottish history.

In these confused times, the role of classical music is at the very core of the struggle to reassert cultural and ethical values that have always characterized our country and for which we have traditionally been honored and respected outside our shores.

An important part of what the state does is preserving its history.

Persia is 7,000 years old and will fight to survive.

The past itself, as historical change continues to accelerate, has become the most surreal of subjects - making it possible... to see a new beauty in what is vanishing.

And one cannot discharge the duty of loyalty without the patient and an open minded study of the institution that marked the country and defined its character.