108 Quotes by Simon Schama

Irreverence is the lifeblood of freedom.

I first read War And Peace about 100 years after Tolstoy wrote it.

In its Greek origins, historia meant inquiry, and from Thucydides onwards, the past has been studied to understand its connections with the present.

Walking on camera is damn hard. It's a Jewish problem. The rangy stride across the blasted moor is not really a Jewish thing.

I don't really like the autumn. For me it is the beginning of winter and I hate the winter. White, the colour of death.

But it struck me that the extreme violence and cruelty of the English Civil War had gone understated.

What can art really do in the face of atrocity?

Nations don't start out. There is not a particular moment when they unveil the essence of themselves. They are always a work in progress.

The great theme of modern British history is the fate of freedom. The 18th century inherits, after the Civil War, this very peculiar political animal. It's not a democracy, but it's not a tyranny. It's not like the rest of the world, the rest of Europe. There is a parliament, laws have to be made, elections are made.