I’m the last person who would end up doing something that needs meticulous compilation of facts. It’s totally against my character. I live by impulse. I’m totally ill-suited to writing history books. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
I’m not disciplined at all. I barely function. But I get a lot done. I take days off all the time, but when I work, I work very fast and very efficiently. But I’m always having days when I’m feeling a little anxious, and I take a day off. I work in a funny way. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
It’s the mix of the trivial and the great events that make up history. It’s the low things about high people that make it fascinating, and that’s why it would be a shame to exclude the trivial things. That mixing up is not just at the heart of history. It’s at the heart of how to live a great life. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
We have far too many Tudors. Henry VIII is far too over-rated. He’s become the ultimate brand name, like the Marks & Spencers of a high street of British history. I’m more interested in King Herod. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
I much prefer writing fiction. History books, for me, are very hard work, very serious. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
Colonel Qaddafi’s tyranny was absolutist, monarchical, and personal. The problem with such dictatorships is that as long as the tyrant lives, he reigns and terrorizes. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
Russia is so feudal in its system of patronage and reward that it is virtually impossible for a leader to hand over power without controlling his successor or at least receiving an exemption from prosecution – something Mr. Putin granted his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, in 1999. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
Saddam Hussein admired, studied, and copied Stalin, the paragon of modern dictators. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
Unlike monarchs, who pass power to their heirs at the moment of death to ensure the survival of the regime, tyrants must simply survive as long as possible. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
