Edward Grey
Edward Grey
Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, KG PC DL FZS, better known as Sir Edward Grey, 3rd Baronet, was a British Liberal statesman. An adherent of the "New Liberalism", he served as Foreign Secretary from 1905 to 1916, the longest continuous tenure of any person in that office. He is probably best remembered for his "the lamps are going out" remark on 3 August 1914 on the outbreak of the First World War. He signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement on...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth25 April 1862
Edward Grey quotes about
apparent became call great halt obvious powers recoil seemed
I thought this must be obvious to everyone else, as it seemed obvious to me; and that, if once it became apparent that we were on the edge, all the Great Powers would call a halt and recoil from the abyss.
ageing german screws steam
The German Emperor is ageing me; he is like a battleship with steam up and screws going, but with no rudder, and he will run into something some day and cause a catastrophe.
lit shall
The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.
asking consider demand german russia russian supporting threat
In effect, I was asking that if Russia mobilized against Austria, the German Government, who had been supporting the Austrian demand on Serbia, should ask Austria to consider some modification of her demands, under the threat of Russian mobilization.
great inevitably lead moral
The moral is obvious: it is that great armaments lead inevitably to war.
antagonism arise bring cannot conceive future germans immediate ourselves point
I cannot conceive any point which can arise in the immediate future which would bring ourselves and the Germans into antagonism of interests.