Quotes from book
A Distant Mirror

A Distant Mirror

Barbara W. Tuchman

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century is a narrative history book by the American historian Barbara Tuchman, first published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1978.

“That conflict between the reach for the divine and the lure of earthly things was to be the central problem of the Middle Ages.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 6

“The real reason for his attitude lay deeper. Essentially, Gloucester and the barons of his party were opposed to peace because they felt war to be their occupation. Behind them were the poorer knights and squires and archers of England, who, unconcerned with rights or wrongs, were “inclined to war such as had been their livelihood.””

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 490

“If it is not profitable for the common good that authority should be retained, it ought to be relinquished.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Jean Gerson, quoted on p. 520
A Distant Mirror (1978)

“The emphasis on sorcery reflected accusations by the authorities more than it did actual practice. Being threatened, the Church responded by virulent persecution.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 590

“Against men habituated to lawless force, violent punishment failed to bring the violence under control.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 273

“On being shown a relic said to be a bone of St. Elizabeth, he (Sigismund) turned it over and remarked that it could just as well be that of a dead cobbler.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 542

“In the midst of events there is no perspective.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 454

“For belligerent purposes, the 14th century, like the 20th, commanded a technology more sophisticated than the mental and moral capacity that guided its use.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 426

“The social damage was not in the failure but in the undertaking, which was expensive. The cost of war was the poison running through the 14th century.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 412

“Left to face a hungry winter robbed of their hard-earned harvests, the people experienced their own warrior class not as protectors but ravagers.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 141

“Whatever solace the Christian faith could give was balanced by the anxiety it generated.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 469

“In individuals as in nations, contentment is silent, which tends to unbalance the historical record.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 210

“The ills and disorders of the 14th century could not be without consequence. Times were to grow worse over the next fifty-odd years until at some imperceptible moment, by the some mysterious chemistry, energies were refreshed, ideas broke out of the mold of the Middle Ages into new realms, and humanity found itself redirected.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 581

“His (Deschamps’) complaint of court life was the same as is made of government at the top in any age: it was composed of hypocrisy, flattery, lying, paying and betraying; it was where calumny and cupidity reigned, common sense lacked, truth dared not appear, and where to survive one had to be deaf, blind, and dumb.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 450

“Vainglory, however, no matter how much medieval Christianity insisted it was a sin, is a motor of mankind, no more eradicable than sex. As long as combat was desirable as the source of honor and glory, the knight had no wish to share it with the commoner, even for the sake of success.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 577

“Money was the crux. Raising money to pay the cost of war was to cause more damage to 14th century society than the physical destruction of war itself.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 81

“What counts is not so much the fact as what the public perceives to be the fact.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 291

“Nothing is more certain than death and nothing uncertain but its hour.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Enguerrand VII de Coucy, quoted on p. 570
A Distant Mirror (1978)

“When truth and reason cannot be heard, then must presumption rule.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Admiral Jean de Vienne, quoted on p. 559
A Distant Mirror (1978)

“Voluntary self-directed religion was more dangerous to the Church than any number of infidels.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 487

Similar authors

Barbara W. Tuchman photo

Barbara W. Tuchman45

American historian and author 1912–1989

Romain Rolland photo

Romain Rolland43

French author None

H.P. Lovecraft photo

H.P. Lovecraft203

American author None

Napoleon Hill photo

Napoleon Hill104

American author None

Stephen King photo

Stephen King733

American author None

Robert T. Kiyosaki photo

Robert T. Kiyosaki151

American finance author , investor None

John C. Maxwell photo

John C. Maxwell145

American author, speaker and pastor None

Edward Abbey photo

Edward Abbey146

American author and essayist None

Helen Keller photo

Helen Keller156

American author and political activist None

Carlos Castaneda photo

Carlos Castaneda98

Peruvian-American author None

Similar authors

Barbara W. Tuchman photo

Barbara W. Tuchman45

American historian and author 1912–1989

Romain Rolland photo

Romain Rolland43

French author None

H.P. Lovecraft photo

H.P. Lovecraft203

American author None

Napoleon Hill photo

Napoleon Hill104

American author None

Stephen King photo

Stephen King733

American author None