“I adored history, not the dry dates and boring battles, but the stories and the people who populated them.”

“What I adore is supreme professionalism. I’m bored by writers who can write only when it’s raining.”

“It is humiliating to remain with our hands folded while others write history. It matters little who wins. To make a people great it is necessary to send them to battle even if you have to kick them in the pants. That is what I shall do.”

“Stories are as unique as the people who tell them, and the best stories are those in which the ending is a surprise.”

“If you have to dry the dishes
(Such an awful boring chore)
If you have to dry the dishes
('Stead of going to the store)
If you have to dry the dishes
And you drop one on the floor
Maybe they won't let you
Dry the dishes anymore”

“This is a simple story of a battle; such a tale as may be told by a soldier who is no writer to a reader who is no soldier.”

“Stories only happen to people who can tell them.”

“If I want a long boring story with no point to it, I have my life.”

“A scientist is no more a collector and classifier of facts than a historian is a man who complies and classifies a chronology of the dates of great battles and major discoveries.”

“Stories of perfect people who have never failed don't inspire me, in fact, those stories make me bored and sleepy. I'm fascinated and addicted to stories of people who have failed and risen to become the world's best, those are the real heroes. Failing doesn't define you, how you bounce back up is what makes you”