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Chris Cleave Quotes

Writer

Chris Cleave is a British author known for his engaging narrative style and profound insights into contemporary social issues. His works often focus on sports, family, and human emotions, which have won him a wide readership.

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All Thinking Little Bee Ifs Mean Stories War World Knows Men People Wwii Girl Scar Two Writing Brave Clouds Doe Dying Form

Famous Chris Cleave Quotes

“Alistair smiled. 'How long this war has been.' 'I'll say. One hardly remembers how we lived before. Lightly - not worrying much.' 'Do you suppose we shall ever live that way again?' 'Oh, who knows? Given sufficient champagne and ether.' 'Maybe if we stay drunk to the end of our days we shan't remember.”

War Soldiers

Book:Everyone Brave Is Forgiven

Source: Everyone Brave Is Forgiven

“I was brought up to believe that everyone brave is forgiven, but in wartime courage is cheap and clemency out of season.”

War Courage Forgiveness Bravery

Book:Everyone Brave Is Forgiven

Source: Everyone Brave Is Forgiven

“I think the recent cluster of WWII novels is so good because we have reached an optimal distance from the war. Just as a lens has its focal length, the novel also has its best distance from the action.”

Thinking War Action Novel Distance Length Lenses Wwii Optimal Clusters

Author:Chris Cleave

“At this point in time the war [ WWII] is close enough to still feel hotly personal to a writer, yet far enough away so that jingoism and heroics are no longer required.”

Feels Stills War Enough Wwii Jingoism

Author:Chris Cleave

“[My maternal grandmother ] was a teacher in London and elsewhere during the war, although the children she taught were not the "lost children" who feature in the novel - those come from my research.”

Children War Lost Novel Teacher Taught Research London Features Grandmother Elsewhere Lost Child

Author:Chris Cleave

“I write in the novel's afterword that our recent wars "finish not with victory or defeat but with a calendar draw-down date and a presumption that we shall never be reconciled with the enemy".”

Writing War Enemy Novel Victory Draws Defeat Calendars Presumption

Author:Chris Cleave

“Yet war doesn't end with armistice, it only ends with forgiveness and reconciliation.”

War Ends Reconciliation Armistice

Author:Chris Cleave

“I do think it is harder to acknowledge our strengths, or to forgive ourselves and each other for our shortcomings, when there has not been a result we can all agree on. And it is certainly impossible to imagine forgiving the enemy while their animus remains undefeated. Yet war doesn't end with armistice, it only ends with forgiveness and reconciliation.”

Thinking War Enemy Imagine Impossible Agree Forgiving Acknowledge Reconciliation Shortcomings Undefeated

Author:Chris Cleave

About the Author

Born: 1973
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 111

Books & Sources

Chris Cleave Ebook Boxed Set: Little Bee, Incendiary, GoldRelated source material

Little Bee: A NovelRelated source material

Everyone Brave Is ForgivenRelated source material

Little BeeRelated source material

GoldRelated source material

Gold: A NovelRelated source material

Incendiary: A NovelRelated source material

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