52 Linda Colley Quotes for You to Enjoy

Linda Colley

British Historian

Born: Sep 13, 1949

America American Been British People World

Related authors: A. J. P. Taylor Antony Beevor Arnold J. Toynbee Arthur Helps C. Northcote Parkinson Neil MacGregor Norman Davies Simon Schama

Embarking upon war is always dangerous for national leaders because it makes them more than ever at the mercy of events. When domestic opinion is acutely divided, however, war can be politically lethal for its makers. Linda Colley

A vital part of Trump's appeal was his promise to make America emphatically great again, staunching the haemorrhage of jobs and investment to China and Mexico, and cutting back on handouts to NATO and illegal migrants. Linda Colley

Great NATO Back Jobs Promise Vital Part Investment Make His Trump Mexico America Again China Cutting Illegal Appeal

Any kind of new U.K. federal system would almost certainly demand the creation of a written constitution. Properly drafted, such a document could, among many things, pin down more effectively the proper dimensions of prime ministerial power. Linda Colley

Constitution Power Creation Down Dimensions System Kind Ministerial Would Proper Properly More Could Federal Written Almost Demand Prime New Document Pin Effectively Any Certainly Many Among Things Drafted

Margaret Thatcher's decision to use Scotland as a testing ground for the poll tax was arguably the most disastrous attempt at fiscal engineering since London slapped the stamp tax on the American colonies in the 1760s. Linda Colley

London is not just an international financial centre: it is also one of the most ethnically diverse places on earth. Three hundred languages are represented within its boundaries, and - as is true of some other English cities - more than half of London's inhabitants describe themselves as non-white. Linda Colley

Financial Three Half Other Hundred Earth Cities London Some Diverse More True Boundaries Most Also Within Than Just Places Centre Themselves Inhabitants Languages English International Describe

Many of the Victorian and Edwardian activists who campaigned for Irish home rule, for instance, also wanted what they called 'home rule all round': separate parliaments not simply for Ireland but also for the Scots and the Welsh - and for the English. Linda Colley

Home Rule Instance Simply Also Welsh Edwardian Ireland Irish Wanted Victorian Separate English Who Many Activists Round

The so-called Boer War advertised British vulnerabilities, and these were confirmed by the Irish rising of 1916 and the subsequent creation of the Irish Free State, blows that attracted the notice and attention of colonial dissidents in Asia and Africa. Linda Colley

The Canadian risings of the 1830s obliged the men in London to think much harder about settler self-government. Linda Colley

Men Think London About Obliged Self-Government Canadian Much Harder

Responding to Britain's future challenges will require unceasing agility in seeking out new alliances and refurbishing old ones inside Europe, not just outside it. Linda Colley

Future Challenges Old Will Responding Out Inside Seeking Alliance Outside New Just Old Ones Require Agility Europe Britain

Modernity is a shifting entity, not easily defined. Exactly the same is true of empire. Linda Colley

Shifting Defined Easily Exactly Exactly The Same Entity True Empire Same Modernity

For a very long time, loyalists were often left out of patriotic American histories of the revolution. Or they were caricatured as upper-class Tory reactionaries, or - rather like the Jacobites - made the subject only of nostalgic antiquarianism. Linda Colley

Now, as in the past, rank is closely associated with modes of representation and display: with making an ordered arrangement of people or things visible and evident to onlookers in some fashion. Linda Colley

Fashion People Past Visible Evident Rank Some Arrangement Making Closely Representation Ordered In The Past Modes Display Now Things Associated

Monarchs, aristocrats, and other powerful and wealthy individuals have usually been happy to have themselves and their possessions and families immortalised in oil paintings and sculpture. But before the 20th century, such dynasts rarely commissioned artworks that set out to represent society as a whole. Linda Colley

Happy Before Society Other Possessions Out Wealthy Rarely Aristocrat Individuals Powerful Been Families Commissioned Represent Oil Century Themselves Sculpture Whole Paintings Monarchs Set

Had Barack Obama been obliged to take his degree at the University of Akron, say, it is doubtful that his progress would have been remotely as stellar. Linda Colley

Progress Degree Say Obama Would Obliged Stellar Take Had Remotely Been His Barack Barack Obama Doubtful University

Historically, individuals possessed of the confidence that privilege and good fortune bestow have often proved conspicuous reformers: think only of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Linda Colley

Good Confidence Think Possessed Franklin Conspicuous Bestow Only Individuals Proved Historically Privilege Often Roosevelt Fortune Good Fortune

One knows something is important when the powers that be choose not to acknowledge it in public. Linda Colley

Important Something Powers Knows Acknowledge Public Choose

Even leaving aside its military bases, America's influence on the domestic ordering of British life has been enormous, though sometimes unrecognised. Linda Colley

Life Sometimes Military Enormous Though Has-Been Leaving Been Domestic America Influence Ordering Aside Military Bases Even Bases British

Postcolonial critics are, I suspect, wrong when they argue that the mass of British people still mourn the loss of empire. But Britain's politicians - and its Foreign Office - have found it hard to adjust to the loss, not so much of onetime colonies as of the global clout the colonies once afforded. Linda Colley

People Politicians British People Once Adjust Critics Colonies Argue Wrong Mass Empire Global Foreign Still Loss Office Mourn Suspect Afforded Clout Much Hard Found Britain British

States that have experienced revolutions or have acquired their independence from empires - such as the U.S. or Australia - tend to celebrate their constitutional documents and put them on show in special galleries so that every citizen can become familiar with them. In the U.K., this is not properly done. Linda Colley

Celebrate Independence Citizen Become Every States Constitutional Properly Tend Put Empires Documents Australia Familiar Revolutions Done Experienced Them Acquired Galleries Show Special

Much of how Americans have always understood their history, culture, and identity depends on positioning Europe as the 'other,' as that 'old world' against which they define themselves. Linda Colley

History Culture World Old Positioning Other Define Identity Always How Understood American Depends Which Against Themselves Much Europe Old World

American prejudices about Europe rarely surface in headlines, but they are real, pervasive, and ingrained. Linda Colley

Rarely About Headlines Surface Real American Ingrained Prejudices Pervasive Europe

Britain, like other European states, is not and never will again be in the top-world-power league, so its male leaders can afford to play subtler, more variegated roles. Leaders of the U.S. don't have that option. Linda Colley

Will Other States More Never Leaders League Like Male Option Afford Roles Again European Play Britain

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