Author

The real point of me isn't that I'm good looking. It's that I'm clever. I've got a brain! I would rather be called a highly intelligent historian than a gorgeous pouting one.

From Niall Ferguson

There aren't many people who really put their life on the line for human freedom.

From Niall Ferguson

Over time, the welfare state has become dysfunctional in a surprising way. But in a way it became a victim of its own success: It became so successful at prolonging life, that it becomes financially unsustainable, unless you make major changes to things like retirement ages.

From Niall Ferguson

I think that it is important to be gregarious, and that friendships are not just a leisure pursuit, that they are an integral part of what it is to be human, and one does better work if one has a circle of friends that is active.

From Niall Ferguson

As a teacher, my strategy is to encourage questioning. I'm the least authoritarian professor you'll ever meet.

From Niall Ferguson

It's all very well for us to sit here in the West with our high incomes and cushy lives, and say it's immoral to violate the sovereignty of another state. But if the effect of that is to bring people in that country economic and political freedom, to raise their standard of living, to increase their life expectancy, then don't rule it out.

From Niall Ferguson

A historian is battling all the time to remember as much as possible.

From Niall Ferguson

Ask me not, 'Are you rightwing,' but ask me 'Are you a committed believer in individual freedom, the values of the enlightenment?' Then, yeah, if being rightwing means believing Adam Smith was right, both in the 'Wealth of Nations' and the 'Theory of Moral Sentiments,' then I'm rightwing.

From Niall Ferguson

The rise of the West is, quite simply, the pre-eminent historical phenomenon of the second half of the second millennium after Christ.

From Niall Ferguson

I think the rise of quantitative econometrics and a highly mathematical approach to risk management was the obverse of a decline in interest in financial history.

From Niall Ferguson

Niall Ferguson

Notable Quotes

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