Kenneth Roberts Quotes

#1. Valiant! The word mocked me, for I knew myself to be anything but valiant. What I had done, I had done in a fit of insane bitterness, not with cool courage, not with brave quick thinking, not with presence of mind - but with absence of it.

Kenneth Roberts

#2. Approaching us through a haze of dust that overhung the road was a long column of men - a slovenly column that marched irregularly and out of step, so that it had the look of a gigantic centipede whose feet hurt.

Kenneth Roberts

#3. People never believe anything - except scandal - when they first heart it.

Kenneth Roberts

#4. All of us know history repeats itself, but mighty few of us recognize the repetition until too late.

Kenneth Roberts

#5. I'll never use force to try to make my enemies think the way I think, George - partly because I don't believe in it, and partly because it's useless. You can't destroy ideas by force, and you can't hide 'em by silence.

Kenneth Roberts

#6. They call war an art, but it isn't. It largely consists in outwitting people, robbing widows and orphans, and inflicting suffering on the helpless for one's own ends - and that's not art: that's business.

Kenneth Roberts

#7. If I was a private individual, I'd be more careful; but being as I'm a government, I'm privileged to make a God-damned fool of myself in any way I choose, especially by spending a lot more money than I've got or ever will have, and promising to do things that I ain't got a chance of doing.

Kenneth Roberts

#8. War's always the same! Children starve, women suffer, men lose their fortunes or turn into beasts!

Kenneth Roberts

#9. I learned, then, beyond question, that if all the property in the world were distributed, and an equal share given to everyone, the bulk of mankind would soon be destitute, and a few would have everything.

Kenneth Roberts

#10. My God, Judge, do men believe whatever lie they hear about an enemy?

Kenneth Roberts

#11. Great men tell the truth and are never believed. Lesser men are always believed, but seldom have the brains or the courage to tell the truth.

Kenneth Roberts

#12. ...the vague thought passed through my mind that all of us, probably, would die like that: unexpectedly, in the middle of something we wanted to do, instead of at the end of our endeavors, as we always fondly believe.

Kenneth Roberts