Robert Fisk

“The first casualty when war comes is truth.”

“War is primarily not about victory or defeat but about human suffering and the butchery of human beings.”

“I think the reporter's job is to be a witness to history. We're not there to moralize.”

“Never believe a rumour until it has been officially denied.”

“After the war, the victors write the history.”

“The problem with history is that it's written by the victors. So you have to be very careful.”

“We have to be neutral and unbiased in our reporting, but we should not be neutral in the face of injustice.”

“Beirut...is the Elizabeth Taylor of cities: insane, beautiful, falling apart, aging, and forever drama-addled.”

“To be a foreign correspondent is to be a witness, to be a voice for the voiceless.”

“Politicians and military men are not to be trusted. They will always lie.”

“The great tragedy of the Middle East is that it's a theatre of war and not a place where people live.”

“A journalist's job is to get to the other side of the hill, to find out what's really going on.”

“If you don't travel, you are a racist.”

“History is not about dates and kings and queens, it's about people.”