Barbara W. Tuchman

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

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

What is government but an arrangement by which the many accept the authority of the few?

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.

Perhaps by this time the 14th century was not quite sane. If enlightened self-interest is the criterion of sanity, in the verdict of Michelet, “no epoch was more naturally mad.”

Modern historians have suggested that in his last years he (Richard II) was overtaken by mental disease, but that is only a modern view of the malfunction common to 14th century rulers: inability to inhibit impulse.

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

Business, like a jackal, trotted on the heels of war.

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

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

In the midst of events there is no perspective.

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