"The question is whether there could have been a less bloody path to modernity. Perhaps in theory there could have been. But in practice?"

For better or worse — fair and foul — the world we know today is in large measure a product of Britain's age of empire. The question is not whether British imperialism was without blemish. It was not. The question is whether there could have been a less bloody path to modernity. Perhaps in theory there could have been. But in practice? - Niall Ferguson, "Empire"

"In the end, history, especially British history with its succession of thrilling illuminations, should be, as all her most accomplished narrators have promised, not just instruction but pleasure." - Simon Schama