John Galsworthy

“ He had a rooted conviction that some day they would hit him back, and this naturally exasperated him. It was not as if he could stop hitting them. If a man could not hit Germans in these days—what could he do? In the midst of danger to the Game Laws, of Socialism, and the Woman's Movement, the only hope, almost the only comfort, lay in hitting Germans. For Socialists were getting so near that he could only hit them now in Clubs, Music Halls, and other quite safe places; and the Woman's Movement might be trusted implicitly to hit itself. ”

“ Thus in the world arena there was nothing left but those godsends, the government, and Germans. Always a fair man, and of thoroughly good heart, he gave them credit for just the amount of generosity and goodwill that he felt present in his own composition. There was no extravagance in that; and any man who gave them more he deemed an ass. ”

“ After that age there were certain kinds of balls and beasts that could no longer be hit with impunity, and if one was at all of an active turn of mind one must have substitutes. Marriage, no doubt, would do something for him, but not enough; his was a strenuous nature, and he intended to remain "hard" unto the end. To combine that with service to his country, especially if, incidentally, he could hit Socialism, and poachers, Germans, loafers, and the income tax—this seemed to him an ideal well worthy of his philosophy and life, so far. ”