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First World Quotes

History remembered through family and fiction alike.

This set draws on personal and historical memory, from a family member's wartime service to the turmoil a defeated generation faced afterward, see First World War quotes.

When I won the first world title in 2011 I was practising six, seven or even more hours a day.

Quotes by Adrian Lewis

As the First World War made painfully clear, when politicians and generals lead nations into war, they almost invariably assume swift victory, and have a remarkably enduring tendency not to foresee problems that, in hindsight, seem obvious.

Quotes by Adam Hochschild

The first World War in so many ways shaped the 20th century and really remade our world for the worse.

Quotes by Adam Hochschild

The Kurds had always had a bad time. They were oppressed by the Ottoman empire. Then, at the end of the First World War, they were promised a homeland, but the new Turkish state refused to give them any land,...

Quotes by Adam Curtis

Believe Quotes

Lenin was the first to discover that capitalism 'inevitably' caused war; and he discovered this only when the First World War was already being fought. Of course he was right. Since every great state was capitalist in 1914.

Quotes by A. J. P. Taylor

The chief fruit of the First World War was the Russian Revolution and the rise of Communism as a national power.

Quotes by Whittaker Chambers

The end of the First World War had thrown Germany's youth into great turmoil. The reins of power had fallen from the hands of a deeply disillusioned older generation, and the younger ones drew together in larger and smaller groups...

Quotes by Werner Heisenberg

'All Quiet on the Western Front' is just sort of there isn't it? Every single trope of the First World War, and anti-war writing in general, is in there.

Quotes by Tony Bradman

Mum told me stories about her time in the Women's Royal Navy, and about her dad, who had died before I was born - he'd been sent to Australia as a child, then joined the Australian Army in the First...

Quotes by Tony Bradman

Country Quotes

I always found the extraordinary loss of life in the First World War very moving. I remember learning about it as a very young child, as an eight- or nine-year-old, asking my teachers what poppies were for. Every year the...

Quotes by Tom Hiddleston

These are such First World problems, but there's a certain claustrophobia to New York. You don't escape in the East Village, but it at least feels full of camaraderie and youth - or full of camaraderie and youth in an...

Quotes by Timothee Chalamet

The adverse economic events following the First World War turned me toward economics.

Quotes by Theodore Schultz

Poland, after the First World War, was beset by chaos, disorder, and a foolish incursion by the Red Army, which helped to produce the ultra-nationalist military dictatorship of General Pilsudski.

Quotes by Tariq Ali

They say the first World Series is the one you remember most. No, no no. I guarantee you don't remember that one because the fantasy world you always dreamed about is suddenly real.

Quotes by Sparky Anderson

First Quotes

No campaign of the First World War better justifies the poets' view of the conflict as futile and pitiless than Gallipoli.

Quotes by Saul David

In the First World War, there was the sudden passion of nationalism, and the killing took place because of these emotions. But the Soviet case is different, because you had systematic murder, like the Holocaust.

Quotes by Ryszard Kapuscinski

I do believe that the genre reached its peak before the First World War.

Quotes by Robyn Davidson

We are constantly trying to cope with what our fathers or our grandfathers did. I wrote the book 'Great War of Civilization,' and my father was a solider in the First World War which produced the current Middle East -...

Quotes by Robert Fisk

As a privileged survivor of the First World War, I hope I may be allowed to interject here a deeply felt tribute to those who were not fortunate enough to succeed, but who shared the signal honor of trying to...

Quotes by Rene Cassin

First World War Quotes

I was born in Jamaica but was educated by, and now serve, prestigious First World institutions, so I believe that I have a unique, dual perspective. To sidestep any biases I might have, I use the objective lens of the...

Quotes by Peter Blair Henry

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the First World quotes collection cover?
It reflects on World War One, from the turmoil a disillusioned postwar generation faced to family stories passed down through generations.
Are these quotes purely historical?
Mostly, but some blend personal family memory with broader historical reflection on the war's lasting impact.
Is there a quote here about literature?
Yes, one notes how deeply the war's tropes still shape anti-war writing and storytelling to this day.
Why do people search for quotes about this period?
It remains a touchstone for discussions of memory, loss, and how conflict reshapes generations, making it a common reference point.
Where can I find more directly on the war itself?
See First World War quotes for a more focused set of lines.

Another line notes how deeply the era's tropes still shape anti-war writing today. Pair with Believe quotes for a reflective counterpoint.