Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon Quotes

I had furthermore spoken on the assumption that Russia would mobilize, whereas the assumption of the German Government had hitherto been, officially, that Serbia would receive no support; and what I had said must influence the German Government to take the matter seriously.

There is no security for any power unless it be a security in which its neighbours have an equal share.

I am getting to an age when I can only enjoy the last sport left. It is called hunting for your spectacles.

The ideal Government minister may well be someone who has no itch to run other people's lives.

I thought this must be obvious to everyone else, as it seemed obvious to me; and that, if once it became apparent that we were on the edge, all the Great Powers would call a halt and recoil from the abyss.

The British Army should be a projectile to be fired by the British Navy.

The Chancellor also in effect asks us to bargain away whatever obligation or interest we have as regards the neutrality of Belgium. We could not entertain that bargain either.

Two temptations that impair the value of their work inevitably beset public men who write memoirs. One is a tendency to reconstruct the past to suit the present views and feelings of the writer; the other is a natual desire to set his own part in affairs in a pleasing light.

Nations are always making mistakes because they do not understand each other's psychology.

An understanding is perhaps better than an alliance, which may stereotype arrangements which cannot be regarded as permanent in view of the changing circumstances from day to day.

The internal peace of every country depends upon the knowledge that force is available to uphold law.

I believe the only way you can make sure that submarines will not be abused in future wars is that there should be no submarines.

If the union between England and America is a powerful factor in the cause of peace, a new Triple Alliance between the Teutonic race and the two branches of the Anglo-Saxon race will be a still more potent influence in the future of the world.

The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.

The time must come to all of us, who live long, when memory is more than prospect. An angler who has reached this stage and reviews the pleasure of life will be grateful and glad that he has been an angler, for he will look back on days radiant with happiness, peaks of enjoyment that are no less bright because they are lit in memory by the light of a setting sun.