It boils down to this: we should have done with humbug, and let war be war, and not a game ... If there were none of this magnanimity business in warfare, we should never go to war, except for something worth facing certain death for.

Summary

This quote expresses the idea that warfare should not be romanticized or seen as a game. The speaker suggests that the notion of magnanimity in war, such as honorable conduct, can sometimes distract from the true gravity of the situation. Instead, the speaker argues that if war were stripped of this romanticism, people would only engage in conflicts if they were truly worth risking their lives for. The quote implies a desire for a more realistic and serious approach to war, stripping away any pretense or false notions surrounding it.

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