Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no need of change.
H. G. WellsRead
No place is safe - no place is at peace. There is no place where a women and her daughter can hide and be at peace. The war comes through the air, bombs drop in the night. Quiet people go out in the morning, and see air-fleets passing overhead - dripping death - dripping death!
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the idea that there is no refuge from the horrors of war, affecting even the most innocent.
H. G. Wells highlights the inescapable reality of war and its devastating effects on civilians, particularly women and children. The imagery of bombs dropping from the sky emphasizes the pervasive fear and violence that disrupts life and safety, illustrating that peace is an unattainable luxury in such times of conflict.
Themes
WarPeaceFearViolenceSafetyInnocence
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on the impact of war on families, this quote can be used to illustrate the emotional toll on innocent lives.
More from H. G. Wells
All quotes →He spares no resource in telling of his dead inventions... Bare verbs he rarely tolerates. He splits infinitives and fills them up with adverbial stuffing. He presses the passing colloquialism into his service. His vast paragraphis sweat and struggle; the
H. G. WellsRead
It [a new world order] needs only that the governments of Britain, the United States, France, Germany, and Russia should get together in order to set up an effective control of currency, credit, production, and distribution – that is to say, an effective ‘dictatorship of prosperity,’ for the whole world. The other sixty odd States would have to join in or accommodate themselves to the over-ruling decisions of these major Powers.
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Things that would have made fame of a less clever man seemed tricks in his hands. It is a mistake to do things too easily.
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But I was too restless to watch long; I'm too Occidental for a long vigil. I could work at a problem for years, but to wait inactive for twenty-four hours - that's another matter.
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The greatest task of democracy, its ritual and feast - is choice.
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