Antony Beevor Quotes

The story of FDR as U.S. Commander in Chief is a heroic war story of a president who had already overcome great adversity in facing polio but who went on to take the reins of our armed forces in the greatest conflagration in human history - on our behalf.

The brave men die in war. It takes great luck or judgment not to be killed. Once, at least, the head has to bow and the knee has to bend to danger. The soldiers who march back under the triumphal arches are death's deserters.

As a Jew, I was taught that it was ethically imperative to speak up and to speak out against arbitrary state violence. That was part of what I learned when I learned about the Second World War and the concentration camps.

The greatest men of a nation are those it puts to death.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

For one thing, I don't think that anybody in any war thinks of themselves as a hero.

There's a book that I read, really a great book - it's called 'Lone Survivor' and I think they're trying to make it into a movie. I would love to play Marcus Luttrell, who was the author and the 'lone survivor.' He's a national hero; he's very courageous and heroic in insurmountable danger, so it's something I'd love to explore.

I don't believe in any Greatest Generation. I believe in great events. They sweep ordinary people up, expose them to extremes of human behavior and unimaginable tests of integrity and courage, and then deposit them back on the home front.

Heroism in a bad cause.

More than 55,000 men from Bomber Command lost their lives, of whom 38,000 were British. That's one in 10 of all the British servicemen lost in the Second World War. It beggars belief that there has not been some recognition for what they gave until now.

In war, people find themselves in extraordinary circumstances, and in those circumstances, they act in extraordinary ways. In war, you see people at their very best and their very worst, acting in ways you could never imagine. War is human drama at its most epic and most intense.

In my grandfather's day, there was a different perspective on war and men that went into war; it was such a patriotic act to fight for your country in the Forties.

I think it is rather heroic to go into a war zone where everyone is trying to kill you, and you have no way of shooting back.

It is not the punishment but the cause that makes the martyr.

I have gone through so many examinations of what a hero is, between the World War II stuff and the astronaut stuff.

If I can just see the European war out I think I might feel justified in quitting the war.

Dad entered the Second World War like any other man, trying to do the right thing.

I grew up with the Gene Kelly look at war. The cheerful kind of stories you tell about a horrendous war.

The reason that war is such a fascinating subject for writers is because it's a revealer. Put a bunch of people in an adrenaline-fuelled, life-or-death situation and their fundamental behaviours are exposed, the scrim is taken away and the motivations behind each personality come out to play.

Every true Christian is a soldier - of Christ - a hero 'par excellence'! Braver than the bravest - scorning the soft seductions of peace and her oft-repeated warnings against hardship, disease, danger, and death, whom he counts among his bosom friends.

It takes lives to save lives.

Apostles of Freedom are ever idolized when dead, but crucified when living.

Human rights are being exalted over victory.

I should be trading on the blood of my men.

If Hitler were to succeed, it would be the end for many besides ourselves of all those things which, as we say, “make life worth living.” We realize that the struggle may cost us everything, but just because the things we are defending are worth any sacrifice, it is a noble privilege to be the defenders of things so precious.