Quotes from Goodbye to All That

Robert Graves ·  281 pages

Rating: (8.3K votes)


“Nor had I any illusions about Algernon Charles Swinburne, who often used to stop my perambulator when he met it on Nurses’ Walk, at the edge of Wimbledon Common, and pat me on the head and kiss me: he was an inveterate pram-stopper and patter and kisser.”
― Robert Graves, quote from Goodbye to All That


“About this business of being a gentleman: I paid so heavily for the fourteen years of my gentleman’s education that I feel entitled, now and then, to get some sort of return.”
― Robert Graves, quote from Goodbye to All That


“Cuinchy bred rats. They came up from the canal, fed on the plentiful corpses, and multiplied exceedingly. While I stayed here with the Welsh, a new officer joined the company... When he turned in that night, he heard a scuffling, shone his torch on the bed, and found two rats on his blanket tussling for the possession of a severed hand.”
― Robert Graves, quote from Goodbye to All That


“Swinburne, by the way, when a very young man, had gone to Walter Savage Landor, then a very old man, and been given the poet’s blessing he asked for; and Landor when a child had been patted on the head by Dr Samuel Johnson; and Johnson when a child had been taken to London to be touched by Queen Anne for scrofula, the King’s evil; and Queen Anne when a child...”
― Robert Graves, quote from Goodbye to All That


“This is a story of what I was, not what I am.”
― Robert Graves, quote from Goodbye to All That



“England looked strange to us returned soldiers. We could not understand the war-madness that ran wild everywhere, looking for a pseudo-military outlet. The civilians talked a foreign language. I found serious conversation with my parents all but impossible.”
― Robert Graves, quote from Goodbye to All That


“...but [I] had sworn on the very day of my demobilization never to be under anyone’s orders for the rest of my life. Somehow I must live by writing.”
― Robert Graves, quote from Goodbye to All That


About the author

Robert Graves
Born place: in Wimbledon, The United Kingdom
Born date July 24, 1895
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“Но отдалечавайки се бавно от гробището, групичката здраво сплотени опечалени жени сякаш започна бавно да набира сила с всяка стъпка. Сякаш първата им любов и вярност бяха отдадени безкомпромисно само и единствено на тази къща и този човек и те знаеха, че той винаги е бил живецът във всички етапи от съществуването им. Не само че никога не бяха нарушили верността си към него, но сега подновяваха клетвата си към него заедно с жената, която беше дошла сред тях и се беше омъжила за него. Непрекъснатото им връщане у дома беше потвърждение на несломимото присъствие на къщата в живота им и сега, след като го оставиха под тисовото дърво, сякаш всяка от тях по собствен начин се беше превъплътила в татко.”
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