The writer's object is - or should be - to hold the reader's attention.

One constant among the elements of 1914—as of any era—was the disposition of everyone on all sides not to prepare for the harder alternative, not to act upon what they suspected to be true.

To be right and overruled is not forgiven to persons in responsible positions.

A phenomenon noticeable throughout history regardless of place or period is the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests.

in the midst of war and crisis nothing is as clear or as certain as it appears in hindsight

Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are engines of change (as the poet said), windows on the world and lighthouses erected in the sea of time. They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.

No more distressing moment can ever face a British government than that which requires it to come to a hard, fast and specific decision.