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Quote by Robert Graves

“She told me that all the girls in Annezin prayed every night for the war to end and for the English to go away as soon as their money was spent. She said that the clause about the money was always repeated in case God should miss it.”

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Robert Graves

Robert Graves was a British poet, novelist, and translator, born on July 24, 1895, and died on December 7, 1985. His poetry is diverse and spans various literary movements from classicism to modernism. Known for his profound insights into history and mythology, Graves's novels are also highly regarded. more

“In the account book of the Great War the page recording the Russian losses has been ripped out. The figures are unknown. Five millions, or eight? We ourselves know not. All we know is that, at times, fighting the Russians, we had to remove the piles of enemy bodies from before our trenches, so as to get a clear field of fire against new waves of assault.”

Knows Has Beens Book War Body Fighting Loss Enemy Millions Clear Fire Five Figures Fields Pages Accounts Wave Eight Remove Assault Ripped Great War Trenches

Author:Paul von Hindenburg

“We once discussed which were the cleanest troops in the trenches, taken by nationalities. We agreed on a descending-order like this: English and German Protestants; Northern Irish, Welsh and Canadians; Irish and German Catholics; Scots; Mohammedan Indians; Algerians; Portugese; Belgians; French. We put the Belgians and French there for spite; they could not have been dirtier than the Algerians and the Portugese.”

Has Beens War Order Taken Catholic Spite Troops Nationality Protestants Great War Trenches Descending Welsh Scots Belgians

Author:Robert Graves

“I was called up in the war and sent to a hospital. I dressed wounds, applied iodine, gave enemas, did blood transfusions. If the doctor ordered: "Brecht, amputate a leg!", I would reply, "Certainly, Your Excellency!", and cut off the leg. If I was told, "Perform a trepanning!" I opened the man's skull and messed about with his brains. I saw how they patched fellows up, so as to cart them back to the Front as quickly as they could.”

Ifs Men War Brain Saws Cutting Blood Fronts Doctors Fellows Legs Wounds Hospitals Skulls Great War Carts Brecht Blood Transfusion Iodine

Author:Bertolt Brecht

“There were many words that you could not stand to hear and finally only the names of places had dignity. Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene.”

War Names Honor Glory Dignity Abstract Great War Obscene Farewell To Arms

Book:Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms

Source: Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms

“The gas-cylinders had by this time been put into position on the front line. A special order came round imposing severe penalties on anyone who used any word but "accessory" in speaking of the gas. This was to keep it secret, but the French civilians knew all about the scheme long before this.”

Long War Used Order Lines Secret Special Fronts Position Rounds Gas Schemes Penalties Severe Civilians Imposing Great War Accessories Cylinders

Book:Goodbye to all that: and other great war writings

Source: Goodbye to all that: and other great war writings

“This was not after all a conventional war, a struggle between equally predacious powers; it was a war to end all wars.”

War Ends Great War

Author:Woodrow Wilson

“Being shelled is the main work of an infantry soldier, which no one talks about. Everyone has his own way of going about it. In general, it means lying face down and contracting your body into as small a space as possible.”

Way Mean War Body Faces Lying Space Down And Soldier Your Body Great War Infantry Contracting

Author:Louis Simpson

“In any case, the bayonet isn't as important as it used to be. It's more usual now to go into the attack with hand-grenades and your entrenching tool. The sharpened spade is a lighter and more versatile weapon - not only can you get a man under the chin, but more to the point, you can strike a blow with a lot more force behind it. That's especially true if you can bring it down diagonally between the neck and the shoulder, because then you can split down as far as the chest. When you put a bayonet in, it can stick, and you have to give the other man a hefty kick in the guts to get it out.”

“Judging from the way they sat and goggled at the drag on the stage it was obvious that they were indulging in delightful fantasies that brought to them substantial memories of the girls they had left behind in London or Manchester. As the Quartermaster Captain lisped after performing before a particularly rapt audience: 'I bet there were more standing pricks than snotty noses tonight'. Astonishingly, I suspect he was right. We probably helped to keep the home fires of passion burning.”

“Yet when we achieved, and the new world dawned, the old men came out again and took our victory to remake it in the likeness of the former world they knew. Youth could win, but had not learned to keep: and was pitiably weak against age. We stammered that we had worked for a new heaven and a new earth, and they thanked us kindly and made their peace.”

Men World Made War Age Earth Winning Heaven Youth Victory Weak Former Old Man New World Remakes Great War New Earth

Book:The Collected Works of Lawrence of Arabia (Unabridged): Seven Pillars of Wisdom + The Mint + The Evolution of a Revolt + Complete Letters (Including Translations of The Odyssey and The Forest Giant)

Source: The Collected Works of Lawrence of Arabia (Unabridged): Seven Pillars of Wisdom + The Mint + The Evolution of a Revolt + Complete Letters (Including Translations of The Odyssey and The Forest Giant)

Quote by Robert Graves

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