Home
Authors
Tags
App
Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App
" Nicholas I has been called 'Genghis Khan with a telegraph.' Stalin was 'Genghis Khan with a telephone.' But Mr. Putin is not Genghis Khan with a BlackBerry. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Been
Blackberry
Telephone
Related Quotes:
" When I'm in Jerusalem, I stay at the American Colony Hotel, neutral territory: the secret peace talks of 1992/3 started there. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Peace
American
Hotel
" I am a passionate nonfinisher. Life is too short, and there are too many great books to read, so if I lose interest or respect, I switch. But when, of course, when you really fall in love with a book, all the others are ignored. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Love
Respect
Great
" In 1942, the Germans were running out of fuel. They were advancing so fast across the grasslands, the hot grasslands of south Russia, and the Russians were running out of tanks. And so both of them turned to cavalry, and there were great cavalry battles on the grasslands. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Running
Battles
Hot
" The Russian Revolution mobilized a popular passion across the world based on Marxism-Leninism, fueled by messianic zeal. It was, perhaps, after the three Abrahamic religions, the greatest millenarian rapture of human history. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
History
World
Revolution
" It was always presumptuous to expect Russia, an ancient nation-state and proud empire of distinct culture with a tradition of autocracy, to become an Anglo-American democracy overnight - just as it is naive to expect it in other parts of the world. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Culture
Always
Democracy
" I always wanted to write a history of Jerusalem. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Write
Always
History
" President Trump is, some ways, the personification of a new Bolshevism of the Right, where the ends justify the means and acceptable tactics include lies and smears and the exploitation of what Lenin called 'useful idiots.' "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
New
Right
President
" I read many wonderful novels, though I now find the idea of literary fiction obsolete. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Fiction
Now
Wonderful
" I'm an enormous fan of American literature, and especially the great novels of Larry McMurtry, 'Lonesome Dove,' Cormac McCarthy, Elmore Leonard. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Literature
American
Dove
" To make a Frankenstein monster of a complex character like Stalin would have been too simplistic. I wanted to show who he was and, if you like, how he happened. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Who
Show
You
" There is a view of Russian exceptionalism, that they are a unique civilisation, a view right since Ivan the Terrible that Russia is a special civilisation with a special culture. Putin is pushing that now. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
View
Special
Now
" Believe it or not, some Western analysts in the 1930s insisted that Stalin was a 'moderate,' controlled by extremists like the secret police chief Nikolai Yezhov. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Some
Police
Like
" I see the world as an adventure thriller and a voyage of discovery. To me, all lives are lives of mystery and secrecy, and that's what I write about. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Mystery
Discovery
Adventure
" 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
Long
Death
Survival
" The disorder, uncertainty, and strife of a revolution make citizens yearn for stable authority, or they turn to radicalism. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Turn
Authority
Uncertainty
" In the new Georgia, Stalin is no longer Georgian. He's a Russian emperor. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Georgia
Emperor
Stalin
" She grounded me. I have become very disciplined now. I would never have written the books without her. Definitely the cleverest thing I ever did was to marry Santa. Maybe it's the only clever thing I did. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Me
Never
Now
" It is a characteristic of potentates that they don't succumb to peaceful retirement. Instead, they hold power in their hoary fists as judgment and grip weaken, destroying any successors except family members. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Family
Retirement
Power
" I don't like sports. I'm not interested in sports. I hate sports. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Like
Not Interested
Sports
" A reforming liberal leader in Russia is the Holy Grail of Kremlinology, but the search for one is as misguided and hopeless as that for the relic of the Last Supper. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Hopeless
Liberal
Leader
" 'Daddy used to be a Georgian,' Stalin's son, Vasily, once said. Actually, the dictator didn't truly become Russian; he remained Georgian culturally. Yet he embraced the imperial mission of the Russian people. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Used
Son
Said
" Russian writers enjoy almost sacred status. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Enjoy
Almost
Sacred
" 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
Reward
Leader
Power
" When I'm up, I'm over-exuberant; when I'm down, I just wander round on my own. I have no middle space. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Wander
Up
My Own
" I don't feel that Jewish people have a class. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
People
Jewish
Feel
" I don't think Jerusalem should be controlled 100% by religious people of any denomination, sect, or religion - even my own. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Think
Religion
People
" The memoirs of the Grand Duchess Olga are an entertaining record for anyone interested in the imperial family's home life during the last years of Russian autocracy. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Life
Memoirs
Years
" I always find that the more Jewish you are, the more people respect you. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Find
You
Respect
" While most know the young Stalin was a seminarian, few realize that he was also a Georgian patriot, a published romantic poet. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Romantic
Know
Patriot
" Under Stalin, artists weren't dissidents; all they hoped was to survive and write. "
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Were
Write
Artists