Antony Beevor Quotes

49 quotes in 751 categories

• To begin impatiently is the worst mistake a writer can make
• I think it's outrageous if a historian has a 'leading thought' because it means they will select their material according to their thesis
• I am not someone who believes I am going to find a historical scoop.
• I feel slightly uneasy at the way historians are consulted as if history is going to repeat itself. It never does.
• If you smash a city when you're trying to capture it, you actually end up providing the perfect terrain for the defenders while blocking the…
• I just write the sort of book that I would enjoy reading myself, a book that is both scholarly and recreates the experience of people…
• It takes me three or four years to research and write each book and the individual stories stay with you for a long time afterwards.
• The British bombing of Caen beginning on D-Day in particular was stupid, counter-productive and above all very close to a war crime.
• I think one of the great disasters (in military history) is the way that the Second World War has become the defining reference point for…
• When I was a child I had something called Perthes' Disease which meant I was on crutches, so I was bullied at school and all…
• It was only after five years in the army, when I was having to do a very boring job in a very boring place, that…
• The duty of a historian is simply to understand and then convey that understanding, no more than that.
• When my first novel was published, I went in great excitement round bookshops in central London to see if they had stocked it.
• When I was younger I used to get my best writing done at night, but now it has to be during the day. I usually…
• I joined the Army in 1965 and served with the 11th Hussars, which I loved. The regiment was so relaxed - a salute was more…
• The great European dream was to diminish militant nationalism. We would all be happy Europeans together. But we are going to see the old monster…
• I can't envisage stopping writing.
• The vital thing for me is to integrate the history from above with the history from below because only in that way can you show…
• I was in Estonia when a professor asked me if I was aware that making any criticism of the Red Army during the war was…
• I was planning to stay in the Army all my life, but I ended up being posted to a training camp in Wales and was…

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