Antony Beevor Quotes

To begin impatiently is the worst mistake a writer can make

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 access for your own armoured vehicles.

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 at that time.

Few things reveal more about political leaders and their systems than the manner of their downfall.

I believe passionately in preemptive pessimism, especially before a book comes out. I expect the worst both from reviewers and sales, and then, with any luck, I may be proved wrong.

I think it's outrageous if a historian has a 'leading thought' because it means they will select their material according to their thesis

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 that sort of stuff.

When my first novel was published, I went in great excitement round bookshops in central London to see if they had stocked it.

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.

I am not someone who believes I am going to find a historical scoop.

I can't envisage stopping writing.

I just love the days when you come out of the archives with half a dozen excellent descriptions or poignant accounts of personal experiences.

The blurring of fact and fiction has great commercial potential, which is bound to be corrupting in historical terms.

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 every crisis and every conflict.

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 feel slightly uneasy at the way historians are consulted as if history is going to repeat itself. It never does.

The duty of a historian is simply to understand and then convey that understanding, no more than that.

I joined the Army in 1965 and served with the 11th Hussars, which I loved. The regiment was so relaxed - a salute was more like a friendly wave.