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

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.

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

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

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 every crisis and every conflict.

I felt the faith of being, when my sins were washed by blood of holy Lamb, Jesus Christ, holy sacrifice.

[Alexander von] Humboldt showers us with true treasures.

A man needs the feelings of kindness to think great than thinking of the greatness to feel good.

I called the fake news "the enemy of the people" - and they are. They are the enemy of the people. Because they have no sources, they just make them up when there are none.

Letting go of our suffering is the hardest work we will ever do.

With supernatural things, I have heard ghosts, but I've never seen ghosts. I do seek ghosts and I would love to see one, but I would crap my pants.

Luck is statistics taken personally.

[President Bush should] quit hiding behind the Secret Service, come out and face the nation and explain his failure to protect the country.

One of the author's most ancient roles is to call the community to account for its hypocrisies and bad faith.

We cannot escape the clear fact that what is going to win in this world is reason, if this ever becomes a reasonable world.