A Short History of England Quotes

“A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction.’ Even”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of England

“The contemporary Matthew Paris wrote that, ‘foul as it is, hell itself is defiled by the foulness of King John’. A bard sang that ‘no man may ever trust him, for his heart is soft and cowardly’. Yet this evil was catalyst for a greater good, Magna Carta.”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of England

“On his death even The Times remarked that, ‘never was an individual less regretted by his fellow creatures than this deceased king’.”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of England

“In Yorkshire's Harewood chapel, frigid effigies of fifteenth-century warriors lie on their tombs like ships at anchor, bearing silent witness to the slaughter [of the War of the Roses].”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of England

“swollen bowels burst and an intolerable stench assailed the nostrils of bystanders”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of England

“The nation’s patriotic juices were stirred and the new music halls chanted, ‘We don’t want to fight but by jingo if we do, / We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men, we’ve got the money too.’ Such sentiments became known as jingoism.”
― Simon Jenkins, A Short History of England