Notebook

“There may be casualties, of course, but personally I don’t see it as a soldier’s war at all. Where are we going to fight? No one in his senses would try to break either the Maginot or Siegfried Lines. As I see it, both sides will sit tight until  they begin to feel the economic pinch. The Germans are short of almost every industrial essential. As soon as they realize that Mr Hitler’s bluff has been called, we shan’t hear much more of Mr Hitler. That’s an internal matter  for the Germans to settle for themselves. We can’t treat with the present gang, of course, but as soon as they produce a respectable government we shall be able to iron out all our differences.”

“That’s rather how my Italian taxi-driver talked yesterday.”

“Of course. Always go to a taxi-driver when you want a sane, independent opinion.  I talked to one today.”

Evelyn Waugh, “Men At Arms”.