Herbert Fisher Quotes
Herbert Fisher shares thoughtful reflections on history's twists, urging careful reading of politics and culture.
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All political decisions are taken under great pressure, and if a treaty serves its turn for ten or twenty years, the wisdom of its framers is sufficiently confirmed.
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It is easier for eight or nine elderly men to feel their way towards unanimity if they are not compelled to conduct their converging maneuvers under the microscopes and telescopes of the press, but are permitted to shuffle about a little in slippers.
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I can see ... only one safe rule for the historian: that he should recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the contingent and the unforeseen.
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Purity of race does not exist. Europe is a continent of energetic mongrels.
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Politics is the art of human happiness.
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We're not very dangerous animals; we don't have a horn like a rhino or quills like a porcupine.
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Of all the foods we share, there is nothing more primordial than meat. It's no surprise that meat-eaters still want a partner who will give, receive and share this primordial symbol of a budding partnership.
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When chimps threaten, they open their mouth and show their teeth. It's a little like waving a knife in front of you. It's very primitive, and therefore bizarre.
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For so many generations, a woman's only career path was to marry well and to marry up. Those days have changed.
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Almost always, when I'm on TV, the producers who call me, who negotiate what we're going to say, is a woman.
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Jealousy can even be good for love. One partner may feel secretly flattered when the other is mildly jealous. And catching someone flirting with your beloved can spark the kind of lust and romance that reignites a relationship.
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In that early-love stage, you're in that state of exhilaration. You talk till dawn. You become obsessed with 'What does he think?' 'Does he like me?' 'Does he think I'm fat?'
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People have been looking for love potions since hunter-gatherer societies.
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Women's worst invention was the plow. With the beginning of plow agriculture, men's roles became extremely powerful. Women lost their ancient jobs as collectors.
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As women in industrial societies join the paid workforce, they gain the economic means to depart unhappy marriages more easily.
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For men, being too put-together implies femininity.
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Why do we feel jealousy? Therapists often regard the demon as a scar of childhood trauma or a symptom of a psychological problem. And it's true that people who feel inadequate, insecure, or overly dependent tend to be more jealous than others.