The Second World War (book series)

"Lord Halifax... This High Church Yorkshire aristocrat and ardent peace-lover, reared in all the smiling good will of former English life, who had taken his part in the war as a good officer, met on the other side the demon-genius sprung from the abyss of poverty, inflamed by defeat, devoured by hatred and revenge, and convulsed by his design to make the German race masters of Europe or maybe the world. Nothing came out of this but chatter and bewilderment."

"Mussolini had been driven into the German system by sanctions so ineffectual that they had angered him without weakening his power. He might well have pondered with relish on Machiavelli's celebrated remark, "Men avenge slight injuries, but not grave ones." Above all, the Western Democracies had seemed to give repeated proofs that they would bow to violence so long as they were not themselves directly assailed."

"Hitler: ...Well, two years ago when we marched into the Rhineland with a handful of battalions - at that moment I risked a great deal. If France had marched then, we should have been forced to withdraw. . . . But for France it is now too late!"

"I do not believe that we can make progress in European appeasement if we allow the impression to gain currency abroad that we yield to constant pressure."

"Mr. Attlee made a searching point. The resignation of Mr. Eden was being proclaimed in Italy as "another great victory for the Duce.""

"The other day Lord Halifax said that Europe was confused. The part of Europe which is confused is that part ruled by parliamentary governments. I know of no confusion on the side of the great Dictators. They know what they want, and no one can deny that up to the present at every step they are getting what they want."

"Whatever may happen, foreign countries should know - and the Government are right to let them know - that Great Britain and the British Empire must not be deemed incapable of playing their part and doing their duty as they have done on other great occasions which have not yet been forgotten by history."

"The belief that security can be obtained by throwing a small state to the wolves is a fatal delusion."

"Hitler rejoined that the Army was the instrument of the State, that he was the head of the State, and that the Army and otehr forces owed unquestioning obedience to his will. On this Beck resigned... For Beck there remained only a tragic but honourable fate."

"Those who are prone by temperament and character to seek sharp and clear-cut solutions of difficult and obscure problems, who are ready to fight whenever some challenge comes from a foreign Power, have not always been right. On the other hand, those whose inclination is to bow their heads, to seek patiently and faithfully for peaceful compromise, are not always wrong. On the contrary, in the majority of instances they may be right, not morally but from a practical standpoint. How many wars have been averted by patience and persisting good will! Religion and virtue alike lend their sanctions to meekness and humility, not only between men but between nations."

"There is no merit in putting off a war for a year if, when it comes, it is a far worse war or one much harder to win."

"It is baffling to reflect that what men call honour does not correspond always to Christian ethics. Honour is often influenced by that element of pride which plays so large a part in its inspiration."

"[T]here were always two Polands; one struggling to proclaim the truth and the other grovelling in villainy."

"A moment may come when, owing to the invasion of Czechoslovakia, a European war will begin, and when that moment comes we must take part in that war, we cannot keep out of it, and there is no doubt upon which side we shall fight."

"[T]he deep difference between the Prime Minister and myself... The Prime Minister has believed in addressing Herr Hitler through the language of sweet reasonableness. I have believed that he was more open to the language of the mailed fist."

"The desertion of an ally, especially from fear of war, saps the spirit of an army. The sense of being forced to yield depresses both officers and men."

"History... we are told is mainly the record of the crimes, follies, and miseries of mankind..."

"You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves."

"I have never seen a human being who more perfectly represented the modern conception of a robot... His smile of Siberian winter, his carefully measured and often wise words, his affable demeanour, combined to make him the perfect agent of Soviet policy in a deadly world."

"The main military purpose and scheme of the Dictators is to produce quick results, to avoid a prolonged war. A prolonged war never suits dictators."