We will mete out to the Germans the measure and more than the measure that they have meted out to us. We will have no truce or parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst and we will do our best.
We should lay aside every hindrance and endeavour by uniting the whole force and spirit of our people to raise again a great British nation standing up before all the world; for such a nation, rising in its ancient vigour, can even at this hour save civilization.
I myself find waiting more tiring than action.
For the first time I heard shots fired in anger, heard bullets strike flesh or whistle through the air.
Here was a place where real things were going on. Here was a scene of vital action. Here was a place where anything might happen. Here was a place where something would certainly happen. Here I might leave my bones.
Here life itself, life at its best and healthiest, awaits the caprice of the bullet. Let us see the development of the day. All else may stand over, perhaps for ever. Existence is never so sweet as when it is at hazard.
It always looks so easy to solve problems by taking the line of least resistance.
You never can tell whether bad luck may not after all turn out to be good luck.
You have to run risks. There are no certainties in war. There is a precipice on either side of you – a precipice of caution and a precipice of over-daring.
God alone knows how great it is. All I hope is that it is not too late. I am very much afraid that it is. We can only do our best.
I feel like an aeroplane at the end of its flight, in the dusk, with the petrol running out, in search of a safe landing.
I look like a down-and-out drunk who has been picked out of the gutter in the Strand.
I am weary of a task which is done and I hope I shall not shrink when the aftermath ends. My only wish is to live peacefully out the remaining years – if years they be.
Danger gathers upon our path. We cannot afford – we have no right – to look back. We must look forward.
There is no doubt the charge was an awful gamble and that no normal precautions were possible. The issue as far as I was concerned had to be left to Fortune or to God – or to whatever may decide these things. I am content and shall not complain.
When danger is far off we may think of our weakness; when it is near we must not forget our strength.
I’m bored with it all. Before slipping into a coma. He died 9 days later.
I have in my life concentrated more on self-expression than self-denial.
Time passes swiftly, but is it not joyous to see how great and growing is the treasure we have gathered together, amid the storms and stresses of so many eventful and to millions tragic and terrible years?
You must put your head into the lion’s mouth if the performance is to be a success.