British - Historian | June 27, 1965 -
The Europeans do tend to delegitimize Israel and turn Israel into a dirty word, which is unforgivable.
Simon Sebag Montefiore
DirtyTurnIsraelWordEuropeans
I don't like sports. I'm not interested in sports. I hate sports.
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I love the heat and the excitement of Israel, and I will always love Jerusalem.
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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.
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With popular rulers, the wife can become the guardian of their greatness: Peter the Great was succeeded by his wife, Catherine I. Sometimes the wives are an improvement.
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Mugabe's resignation fascinates because the fall of tyrants is always a family story, decline of the father, writ large. What a strange creature he is.
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My wife Santa is a fanatical skier, going to Klosters many times a year. To please her, I have for 12 years tried to ski, abseil, mountain-climb, para-scend, heli-ski, land-lauf, ice-skate, toboggan, luge, bobsleigh, yodel, gulp gluhwein, dunk bread in cheese fondue, or even walk in the mountains. I have failed at every one of these pursuits.
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Every time I give an interview, I seem to offend somebody in my family, usually my mother.
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One of the strange things about doing publicity is that a mistake in a newspaper profile long ago is repeated and amplified over time.
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When I'm in Jerusalem, I stay at the American Colony Hotel, neutral territory: the secret peace talks of 1992/3 started there.
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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.
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I can never resist Ruritanian intrigue: I was once charged with the task of offering the Estonian throne to Prince Edward. Feeling like a Dumas Musketeer on a mission, I did so, but he turned it down.
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