Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon quotes

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon was a British statesman and diplomat, most famous for serving as Foreign Secretary before and during the early years of World War I. His long tenure in office was marked by efforts to maintain peace in Europe and navigate complex international alliances. He is remembered for his influential role in British foreign policy and his poignant reflection on the outbreak of war. Here are 48 of his quotes:

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

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

[The United States is like] a gigantic boiler. Once the fire is lighted under it there is no limit to the power it can generate.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

When we are bored, when we are out of tune, when we have little worries, it clears our feelings and changes our mood if we can get in touch with the beauty of the natural world.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

Books are the greatest and the most satisfactory of recreations. I mean the use of books for pleasure. Without books, without having acquired the power of reading for pleasure, none of us can be independent, but if we can read we have a sure defence against boredom in solitude.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

Some one, I think it was Isaac Disraeli, said that he who did not make himself acquainted with the best thoughts of the greatest writers would one day be mortified to observe that his best thoughts are their indifferent ones, and it is from the great books that have stood the test of time that we shall get, not only the most lasting pleasure, but a standard by which to measure our own thoughts, the thoughts of others, and the excellence of the literature of our own day.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

Poetry is the greatest literature, and pleasure in poetry is the greatest of literary pleasures. It is also the least easy to attain and there are some people who never do attain it.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

If there is one thing more than another that I have striven to secure during the last seven years it is that we should not incur any increase of Imperial liabilities.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

[T]he real root of Liberalism is fairness.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

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.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

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.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

I happened to be impressed by his knowledge of natural history and literature and to have had first-hand evidence of both, but I gather from others that there were other fields of knowledge in which he was also remarkable.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

Of all the joys of life which may fairly come under the head of recreation there is nothing more great, more refreshing, more beneficial in the widest sense of the word, than a real love of the beauty of the world...

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

There is much poetry for which most of us do not care, but with a little trouble when we are young we may find one or two poets whose poetry, if we get to know it well, will mean very much to us and become part of ourselves...

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

It is sometimes said that this is a pleasure-seeking age. Whether it be a pleasure-seeking age or not, I doubt whether it is a pleasure-finding age.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

Colonel Roosevelt liked the song of the blackbird so much that he was almost indignant that he had not heard more of its reputation before.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

I am not attempting here a full appreciation of Colonel Roosevelt. He will be known for all time as one of the great men of America. I am only giving you this personal recollection as a little contribution to his memory, as one that I can make from personal knowledge and which is now known only to myself.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

A great European war under modern conditions would be a catastrophe for which previous wars afforded no precedent. In old days nations could collect only portions of their men and resources at a time and dribble them out by degrees. Under modern conditions whole nations could be mobilized at once and their whole life-blood and resources poured out in a torrent.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

I saw enough of him to know that to be with him was to be stimulated in the best sense of the word for the work of life. Perhaps it is not yet realised how great he was in the matter of knowledge as well as in action. Everybody knows that he was a great man of action in the fullest sense of the word. The Press has always proclaimed that. It is less often that a tribute is paid to him as a man of knowledge as well as a man of action.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

That Germany was so immensely strong and Austria so dependent upon German strength that the word and will of Germany would at the critical moment be decisive with Austria.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

The German Emperor is ageing me; he is like a battleship with steam up and screws going, but with no rudder, and he will run into something some day and cause a catastrophe.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

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.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

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.

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon