"In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock!"

This quote by Graham Greene is a commentary on the absence of imagination and innovation in Switzerland. He is suggesting that despite having a long history of democracy and peace, the Swiss have actually not produced anything of note. Instead, the only thing they are understood for is the cuckoo clock, a novelty product that is not particularly beneficial or innovative. Greene is implying that the Swiss have not utilized their long history of peace and democracy to develop something of long lasting value. He is also suggesting that the Swiss have ended up being contented and content with their current circumstance, rather of striving for something greater. This quote is a suggestion that peace and democracy are inadequate to produce a lasting legacy; it takes hard work and commitment to create something of enduring worth.