"Neither Sassoon or Owen were notably exploratory or original in technique ,each developed a style which permitted them to give a full expression to their deepest thoughts & feelings about war."

"Past events are not dead but constantly making their claims on the present, modifying it even as they themselves are modified in the maw of subsequent events and in the memory which is part of the shaping of imagination."

"The authentic British poetry of the second world war was not a poetry of protest, still less was it inspired by patriotic enthusiasm"

"The servicemen of the 1939 - 45 war could not be disillusioned because they held not illusions to start with, the most common mood found everywhere was one of dour resolution, skeptical, resigned."

"The best poetry of the second World war written by both British & American servicemen need not fear comparison with the generally more well highly regarded work of the 1914-18 poets."

"Some poets are more deeply involved than others in the raw experience which lies behind the poem and for them the act of composition is an act of self exploration with the definite goal of enlightenment rather than the ideally depersonalized construction of a beautiful and autonomous object."

"The great artist may be, outside the confines of his art, cruel, weak, arrogant and foolish, but within them he can transcend his own condition and become noble, passionate and truthful beyond the range of ordinary men."

"I believe one of the functions of language used poetically is to explore experiences and hidden sources of behavior in a way that will not be tedious to the reader."

"In the excitement and rigours of the game or battle with words and shapes, self-interest is mislaid and objective truth may often be revealed."

"The intellect had rejected the rational basis of belief, yet the imagination & sensibility yearn for simple faith."

"As a writer, I must keep writing, poems can never be forced, the muses will not be raped, so I feel this kind of prose (autobiography), however inadequate, share some of the exploratory features of the poetic use of language."

"I would say that my aims of writing this book are less concerned with the facts of history than with the truth of art."

"All true poets are, of course, primarily concerned with artifact, the making of a verbal construct, a durable work of art."

"Ther poetry of the second World War conveys the true feeling of those desolate and desperate days with an urgency and sense of truth that no other means of recording could emulate."

"Well, here I suppose is my life, or part of it, by which I would wish to be judged... poems which have been written from a sense of compulsion, a real need to explore and articulate experiences which have been important to me."

"All I am is in my verse."

"I'm no novelist.Or anything else, I suppose, except, just possibly a poet, once in a while."

"You can find out far more about a writer from his poems or fiction ..because in his stories or poems, his preoccupations, obsessions, moral standards, the quality of his intelligence, his loves, hates, aspirations, belief and fears.. insist on expression."

"The poet , absorbed in the solving of formal problems, the struggle with slippery eels of language, has no time for dissimulation and he tells us more about himself than he knows."

"I hope this book will throw a little light on the nature of human coutage and its lack..when the last argument of kings viz cannon or war pursues its loud & murderous course."

"There is no heav'n like mutual love."

"Important truths still let your fable hold, And moral mysteries with art unfold."

"Bright as the day, and like the morning, fair, Such Cloe is—and common as the air."

"There is no vulture like despair."

"Youth is the proper time for love, And age is virtue's season."

"The liberal are secure alone, For what we frankly give, for ever is our own."

"But tho' we fetch from Italy and France Our fopperies of tune, and mode of dance, Our sturdy Britons scorn to borrow sense."

"Thy thoughts to nobler meditations give, And study how to die, not how to live."

"The great, the vile, the coward, and the brave, Are food alike for worms, companions in the grave. The prince and parasite together lye, No fortune can exalt, but Death will climb as high."

"In vain we plant, we build, our stores increase, If conscience roots up all our inward peace."

"I'll be this abject thing no more, Love, give me back my heart again."

"'Tis impious pleasure to delight in harm. And beauty shou'd be kind, as well as charm."

"In quiet shades, content with rural sports, Give me a life, remote from guilty courts, Where free from hopes, or fears, in humble ease, Unheard of I may live, and die in peace."

"Since truth and constancy are vain, Since neither love, nor sense of pain, Nor force of reason, can persuade, Then let example be obey'd."

"Beauty by no complexion is defin'd, Is of all colours, and to none confin'd."

"But ah! what mighty magick can assuage A woman's envy, and a bigot's rage?"

"The sun is set—but see in bright array What hosts of heav'nly light recruit the day! Love in a shining galaxy appears Triumphant still."

"Scarce hadst thou time t'unsheath thy conqu'ring blade; It did but glitter, and the rebels fled."

"Marriage the happiest bond of love might be, If hands were only join'd when hearts agree."

"Our present joy is sweeter by past pain, To love and heav'n, by suff'ring we attain."

"But ah! in vain from Fate we fly! For, first and last, as all must die, So 'tis as much decreed above, That, first or last, we all must love."

"So sang the syrens, with enchanting sound, Enticing all to listen and be drown'd."

"Shall Nature, erring from her first command, Self-preservation, fall by her own hand?"

"Who to a woman trusts his peace of mind, Trusts a frail bark, with a tempestuous wind."

"Of all pains, the greatest pain Is to love, and love in vain."

"Nature indulgent, provident, and kind, In all things that excell some use design'd; The radiant sun […] Sends from above ten thousand blessings down, Nor is he set so high for show alone; His beams, reviving with auspicious fire, Freely we all enjoy what all admire. The moon and stars, those faithful guides of night, Are plac'd to help, not entertain, the sight. Plants, fruits, and flow'rs, the fertile fields produce, Not for vain ornament, but wholesome use; Health they restore, and nourishment they give, We see with pleasure, but we taste to live."

"No vengeance like a woman's."

"Providence, not niggardly, but wise, Here lavishly bestows, and there denies, That by each other's virtues we may rise."

"Cowards in scarlet pass for men of war."

"A villain, when he seems most kind, Is most to be suspected."