Bruce Shanks (1908-1980)

[inscription reads] " prediction of Tolstoy concerning war. They have remained with me. Stuck’s painting is horrible - but is vital truth. / What despairs us is our utter helplessness. One can do nothing with the leaders of the war: if we could only reach the men who are fighting - to prove to them the utter falseness of their theory of patriotism! If we must have a “something” which we must call patriotism, let it be concerned with humanity as a whole, not to this petty nation or that, that we may be patriotic "