Andrew Roberts Quotes

It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or do in a circumstance unexpected by other people: it is reflection, meditation.

Andrew Roberts

• Genius
• Reflection
• Meditation

I lived like a bear, in a little room, with books for my only friends . . . These were the joys and debaucheries of my youth.

Andrew Roberts

• Books
• Youth
• Joys

One of the chief values reading history, this is the author, is its capacity to "provoke renegade thoughts".

Andrew Roberts

• History
• Author
• Provoke

The future is a matter of contempt for those with courage. - Napoleon Bonaparte.

Andrew Roberts

• Future
• Courage
• Contempt

When you make some great mistake,’ he philosophized, ‘it may very easily serve you better than the best-advised decision.

Andrew Roberts

• Decision
• Mistake
• Advised

What finally scuppered Napoleon's Europe was of course the fatal combination of the English Channel and the Russian winter; the same unlikely partnership that also did for Hitler's Europe.

Andrew Roberts

• Winter
• Europe
• Combination

When, during the Second World War, the island of Malta came through three terrible years of bombardment and destruction, it was rightly awarded the George Medal for bravery: today Israel should be awarded a similar decoration for defending democracy, tolerance and Western values against a murderous onslaught that has lasted twenty times as long.

Andrew Roberts

• Democracy
• Israel
• Bravery

Nothing short of military defeat demoralizes a country so totally as hyper-inflation, and the Directory.

Andrew Roberts

• Country
• Directory
• Demoralizes

With their own record of killing 12 million American Indians and supporting slavery for four decades after the British abolished it, Americans wish to project their historical guilt on to someone else.

Andrew Roberts

• Slavery
• Project
• Guilt