Historical Quotes

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

This is more or less a place to list quotes you find meaningful, funny, or just plain stupid. Remember, history is one minute ago, so any quote is fair game.

Just post some favourites. You don't have to guess the quote, just say one or two or ten.


I'll start us off:

"There are two kinds of fascists: fascists and anti–fascists."— Ennio Flaiano.

"Giving money and power to the government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."— P. J. O'Rourke

"America is the only nation in history which miraculously
has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization."— Georges Clemenceau

[Goalie]

Well my two favorites are in my signature. But some other ones are,

"Ah yes infantry, poor beggars."

"History will be kind to me because I intend to write it" Churchill

"I reject your reality and substitute my own." -Mythbusters-

"Everyone is now stupid having listened to you. At no point during your inchoherant ramblings did you even come close to the answer. I award you no points and may god have mercy on your soul." The Guy in Billy Madison-

[Strike For The South]

By God sir I belive Ive lost my leg

By God sir it seems you have

Wellington at Waterloo (I butcherd it)

[Alexanderofmacedon]

The three in my sig as well as one by Markus Aurelius:

"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."

[Lord Winter]

"God favors the biggest battalions"
"It is forbidden to kill therefore all murders are punished unless committed in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets"
-Both by Voltaire

"The only bad thing about democracy is a five minute talk with the average voter"
-Churchill

"The price of peace is constant vigilance"

[Redleg]

Success is like peeing your pants. Everyone can see the results but only you can feel the warmth...

On a bathroom wall.....

[rotorgun]

One of my favorites has always been:

"There are only two kinds of people on this beach, those who are dead and those who are going to die....now let's get get off our asses and move inland! Who's with me?"

General Norman "Dutch" Cota at Omaha Beach. Arguably the best American divisional commander of WWII IMHO. :bow:

[Avicenna]

'They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance' -some general who then got shot.

[matteus the inbred]

'They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance' -some general who then got shot.

General John Sedgwick during the ACW....always liked that quote!

'Has Wellington nothing to offer me but these Amazons?' - Napoleon on seeing Picton's Highlanders as Waterloo.

'Oy vay' - Einstein on being told about the Hiroshima bomb.

'It is not the business of generals to shoot one another.' - Wellington on being asked by one of his gun crews if they could take a potshot at Napoleon.

[King Kurt]

'They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance' -some general who then got shot.
From the American Civil war I believe.
As for mine - the late great Bill Shankly said it all - as paraphrased in my sig - when he said "Some people say football is a matter of life or death, but you have to realise that it is more important than that"
For those people who don't know him, Bill was manager of Liverpool Football Club here in the UK and turned them in the 1960's and 70's from a second rate team into the sporting giant they still are today. He was a man whose passion and commitment to his sport was an inspiration and an excellent man manager to boot, inspiring his team to go that extra yard. In football, he is still a man who is admired by all football supporters, not just Liverpool fans.:2thumbsup:

[matteus the inbred]

Since we're on a more earthy tone right now, I have to add the famous last words (according to some reports!) of King George V of Britain -

'Bugger Bognor'.

Having been to Bognor Regis more than once, I can quite understand what he meant.

[rotorgun]

Since we're on a more earthy tone right now, I have to add the famous last words (according to some reports!) of King George V of Britain -

'Bugger Bognor'.

Having been to Bognor Regis more than once, I can quite understand what he meant.

:laugh4: :laugh4: LOL. There is certainly an "earthy" ring to that one. But how about the response of the surrounded survivors of Napoleon's Old Guard in the closing stgges (er..that would be stages for those who can type) of the battle of Waterloo: 'Merde!' Gotta' love my French ancestors for such eloquence. (chuckle) ~;p

[Cronos Impera]

" If you don't want me, I want you." Alexandru Lapusneanul
" This country doesn't belong to me, nor our children. It belongs to our children's children, and our children's children children" Stephen the Great

[Incongruous]

These are my favourite

DeGaulle

In 1966 upon being told that President Charles DeGaulle had taken France out of NATO and that all U.S. Troops must be evacuated off of French soil President Lyndon Johnson mentioned to Secretary of State Dean Rusk that he should ask DeGaulle about the Americans buried in France. Dean implied in his answer that that DeGaulle should not really be asked that in the meeting at which point President Johnson then told Secretary of State Dean Rusk:

"Ask him about the cemeteries Dean!"

That made it into a Presidential Order so he had to ask President DeGaulle.

So at end of the meeting Dean did ask DeGaulle if his order to remove all U.S. troops from French soil also included the 60,000+ soldier buried in France from World War I and World War II.

DeGaulle, embarrassed, got up and left and never answered.

It is God's job to forgive Osama bin Laden.
It is our job to arrange a face to face meeting.

— An American Serviceman

(awsome!)

"When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty."

— George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

"There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but boys, it is all hell"

— Major General William Tecumseh Sherman

"They feed the crocodile in the hope that he will eat them last."

— Winston Churchill's observation about appeasers.

To be born free is an accident. To live free is a privilege. To die free is a responsibility.

— Brig. General James Sehorn

"Indomitable in retreat, invincible in advance, insufferable in victory." — Prime Minister Winston Churchill's observation of "Monty" in Spring of 1943.

I have never accepted what many people have kindly said, namely that I have inspired the nation. It was the nation and the race dwelling all around the globe that had the lion heart. I had the luck to give the roar
- Winston Churchill

Aye. Fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live. At least awhile... And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance -- just one chance -- to come back here and tell our enemies that they make take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!!
- William Wallace, "Braveheart"

Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters. ~African Proverb


Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all: the conscientious historian will correct these defects. ~Herodotus, The History of Herodotus


Oh, God. The Sixties are coming back. Well I've got a 12-gauge double-barreled duck gun chambered for three-inch Magnum shells. And - speaking strictly for this retired hippie and former pinko beatnik - if the Sixties head my way, they won't get past the porch steps. They will be history. Which, for chrissakes, is what they're supposed to be. ~P.J. O'Rourke

Man is a history-making creature who can neither repeat his past nor leave it behind. ~W.H. Auden, The Dyer's Hand


Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

[Aenlic]

My favorite quote is in my sig.

[Brenus]

Don’t know if this one is genuine:
Surcouf*, French privateer under the Revolution and Napoleon, was taken prisoner by the English.
English Officer: You French fight for money, we English fight for Honour.
Surcouf: Every body fights for what he needs.

* During his lengendary career, he captured 47 ships and was renowned for his gallantry and chivalry.He became a living legend in France and, in England, a public enemy whose capture was valued at 5 millions francs,

[Somebody Else]

Funny how most of these are vaguely military related...

"Either the curtains go, or I do."

[ZombieFriedNuts]

Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.
Winston Churchill

And my favorite
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.
Winston Churchill

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

No, this is his best:

Woman: If you were my husband, I'd feed you poison!
Churchill: Madam, if you were my wife, I'd take it.

[ZombieFriedNuts]

found this

http://www.brainyquote.com/

tis quite good

[Kralizec]

God is on the side with the best artillery.
- Napoleon

[Aenlic]

No, this is his best:

Woman: If you were my husband, I'd feed you poison!
Churchill: Madam, if you were my wife, I'd take it.

That wasn't just any woman, it was Lady Astor. It occurred at Blenheim palace when both were guests of Churchill's cousin, the Duke of Marlborough.

Churchill was a wonderful wit. The man was a constant stream of great quotations. The Churchill Center (http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=388) has a list of some of his best. The site has lots of other great information abut Churchill, as well. It's a nice place for Churchill fans.

[Somebody Else]

Another one to do with Lady Astor (I think). If I'm right, her first name was Margaret - she went by the diminuitive Margot.

At a dinner party, one Jane Harlowe (possibly American) pronounced the 't' on the end of Margot (ie. saying Mar-gott instead of Mar-go). Lady Astor's reply?

'No my dear, the 't' is silent, as in Harlowe.'

[Zain]

"It's not how you die, it's who you take with you."

-ZainDustin

[Aenlic]

Another one to do with Lady Astor (I think). If I'm right, her first name was Margaret - she went by the diminuitive Margot.

At a dinner party, one Jane Harlowe (possibly American) pronounced the 't' on the end of Margot (ie. saying Mar-gott instead of Mar-go). Lady Astor's reply?

'No my dear, the 't' is silent, as in Harlowe.'

That was Margaret "Margot" Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith. She was the wife of Herbert Henry Asquith, Earl of Oxford and Asquith who was the Liberal PM just prior to WWI and up until 1916, when he was replaced by David Lloyd George. Lady Astor's first name was Nancy.

[Csargo]

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.
Albert Einstein

Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.
Albert Einstein

Do you believe in immortality? No, and one life is enough for me.
Albert Einstein

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.
Albert Einstein

[Somebody Else]

That was Margaret "Margot" Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith. She was the wife of Herbert Henry Asquith, Earl of Oxford and Asquith who was the Liberal PM just prior to WWI and up until 1916, when he was replaced by David Lloyd George. Lady Astor's first name was Nancy.

I told you I was clueless... Anyway, the first two letters were the same. :help:

[matteus the inbred]

Aye. Fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live. At least awhile... And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance -- just one chance -- to come back here and tell our enemies that they make take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!!
- William Wallace, "Braveheart"

That's not really a historical quote is it? Unless you count it as film history! I wouldn't say anything if it wasn't Braveheart, a film which, as an Englishman and a historian, I find offensively innaccurate Hollywood rubbish.
Kidding really, this is a good-humoured anti-Mel protest.

Anyway, more than enough sour grapes. That DeGaulle story is brilliant!

For further masses of quotes and stories, many of them involving golf, try www.anecdotage.com

[Watchman]

"Those who like politics or sausage should not have to see how either is made."
- attr. to Otto von Bismarck

"Ultima Regum Ratio" ("final arbiter of kings")
- motto once inscribed on French cannon

[dracosean]

some quotes by Frederick the great and Bismarck
qoutes by Frederick the great

"The monarch is a perpetual sentinel, who must watch...enemies of the state...it is not that he should remain the shadow of authority, but that he should fulfill [his] duties."


"I am the first servant of my state."


"Ich bin der erste Diener meines Staates."
"All Religions are equal and good, if only the people that practise them are honest people; and if Turks and heathens came and wanted to live here in this country, we would build them mosques and churches."

"Alle Religionen sind gleich und gut, wenn nur die Leute, so sie profesieren, ehrliche Leute sind; und wenn Türken und Heiden kämen und wollten das Lande pöpulieren, so wollen wir ihnen Moscheen und Kirchen bauen."
1740 note on a question whether a Catholic was allowed the citizenship of a Prussian city.


"The religions must all be tolerated and the state has to keep an eye that none of them shall derogate the other, because here everyone must find his salvation in his own way.
"die Religionen müssen alle toleriert werden und der Fiscal muß nur das Auge darauf haben, dass Keine der Andern abruch tue, denn hier muß ein jeder nach seiner Fassung selig werden."
Reply on the question of his secretaries whether the catholic schools should be abolished in protestant Prussia.


"The priest will stay. If he does not want to get up with the others on judgement day, he may well keep lying on his back."
"Der Pfarrer bleibt. Wenn er am Jüngsten Tag nicht mit aufstehen will, kann er ruhig liegen bleiben."
Answer to the request of a parish in Pomerania to send a new priest, as the present one had ventured to deny the resurrection on judgement day.


"That the arrested man has commited blasphemy is a proof that he does not know God. That he has slandered me, I pardon him. But for his insulting of an honourable member of the council, he shall be punished as an example and be sent to Spandau prison for half an hour."
"Dass der Arrestat Gott gelästert hat, ist ein Beweis, dass er ihn nicht kennt. Daß er mich gelästert hat, vergebe ich ihm; daß er aber einen edlen Rat gelästert hat, dafür soll er exemplarisch bestraft werden und auf eine halbe Stunde nach Spandau kommen."
Answering a question by a mayor how to punish a man that had committed blasphemy and insulted the king and the City Council.


"Before I endorse this sentence, I am curious to hear of the measures you want to employ for making a simple soldier pay 2000 Taler."
"Bevor ich das gegenwärtige Urteil bestätige, bin Ich doch neugierig, die Mittel zu wissen, deren man sich bedienen will, einen Soldaten 2000 Taler bezahlen zu lassen."
Note on a verdict against a soldier who was sentenced to a fine of 2000 Taler for smuggling.

"
The greatest and noblest pleasure which men can have in this world is to discover new truths; and the next is to shake off old prejudices."


"Audacity, audacity - always audacity!"
L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace!


"Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl."

"Dogs, would you live forever?"
"Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben?"
Adressing his retreating Prussians at the Battle of Kolin on June 18. 1757
qoutes by Bismarck


The great questions of the time are not decided by speeches and majority decisions — that was the error of 1848 and 1849 — but by blood and iron.
Speech to the Prussian Diet (30 September 1862) Variant rendition: The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions... but by iron and blood.

A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence.

Speech to North German Reichstag (24 September 1867)

Setzen wir Deutschland, so zu sagen, in den Sattel! Reiten wird es schon können.
Let us lift Germany, so to speak, into the saddle. It will certainly be able to ride.

Speech to Parliament of Confederation (1867)

He who has his thumb on the purse has the power.

Speech to North German Reichstag (21 May 1869)

With bad laws and good civil servants it's still possible to govern. But with bad civil servants even the best laws can't help.


The luxury of one's own opinion.

Speech to the Prussian Diet (17 December 1873)

Politics is not an exact science . . . but an art.
Speech (15 March 1884)

Wir Deutschen fürchten Gott, sonst aber Nichts in der Welt; und diese Gottesfurcht ist es schon, die uns den Frieden lieben und pflegen lässt.
We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world; and already that godliness is it, which let us love and foster peace.

Speech to the Reichstag (6 February 1888)

Your map of Africa is really quite nice. But my map of Africa lies in Europe. Here is Russia, and here... is France, and we're in the middle — that's my map of Africa.

Conversation with a colonial enthusiast revealing his disapproval of Colonialism. (1888)

Der alte Jude, das ist der Mann.
The old Jew, he is the man.

A conversation in 1879 on who was the centre of gravity at the Congress of Berlin, referring to Benjamin Disraeli


Der König herrscht aber regiert nicht.
The king reigns but does not govern.


Ich bin gewöhnt in der Münze wiederzuzahlen in der man mich bezahlt.
I am accustomed to pay men back in their own coin.


Lieber Spitzkugeln als Spitzreden.
Better pointed bullets than pointed speeches.



A government must not waiver once it has chosen it's course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.


A journalist is a person who has mistaken their calling.


A little caution outflanks a large cavalry.

A really great man is known by three signs— generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation in success.

A statesman... must wait until he hears the steps of God sounding through events, then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment.


Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.


Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.


Beware of sentimental alliances where the consciousness of good deeds is the only compensation for noble sacrifices.


I have never lived on principles. When I have had to act, I never first asked myself on what principles I was going to act, but I went at it and did what I thought fit. I have often reproached myself for my want of principle.


I have seen three emperors in their nakedness, and the sight was not inspiring.


If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans.


Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.


Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.


People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.


Politics is the art of the possible.
The main thing is to make history, not to write it.


What we learn from history is that no one learns from history.


The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.


The whole of the Balkans is not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier.


When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of putting it into practice.


When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.


With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.

[dracosean]

some quotes by Frederick the great and Bismarck
qoutes by Frederick the great

"The monarch is a perpetual sentinel, who must watch...enemies of the state...it is not that he should remain the shadow of authority, but that he should fulfill [his] duties."


"I am the first servant of my state."


"Ich bin der erste Diener meines Staates."
"All Religions are equal and good, if only the people that practise them are honest people; and if Turks and heathens came and wanted to live here in this country, we would build them mosques and churches."

"Alle Religionen sind gleich und gut, wenn nur die Leute, so sie profesieren, ehrliche Leute sind; und wenn Türken und Heiden kämen und wollten das Lande pöpulieren, so wollen wir ihnen Moscheen und Kirchen bauen."
1740 note on a question whether a Catholic was allowed the citizenship of a Prussian city.


"The religions must all be tolerated and the state has to keep an eye that none of them shall derogate the other, because here everyone must find his salvation in his own way.
"die Religionen müssen alle toleriert werden und der Fiscal muß nur das Auge darauf haben, dass Keine der Andern abruch tue, denn hier muß ein jeder nach seiner Fassung selig werden."
Reply on the question of his secretaries whether the catholic schools should be abolished in protestant Prussia.


"The priest will stay. If he does not want to get up with the others on judgement day, he may well keep lying on his back."
"Der Pfarrer bleibt. Wenn er am Jüngsten Tag nicht mit aufstehen will, kann er ruhig liegen bleiben."
Answer to the request of a parish in Pomerania to send a new priest, as the present one had ventured to deny the resurrection on judgement day.


"That the arrested man has commited blasphemy is a proof that he does not know God. That he has slandered me, I pardon him. But for his insulting of an honourable member of the council, he shall be punished as an example and be sent to Spandau prison for half an hour."
"Dass der Arrestat Gott gelästert hat, ist ein Beweis, dass er ihn nicht kennt. Daß er mich gelästert hat, vergebe ich ihm; daß er aber einen edlen Rat gelästert hat, dafür soll er exemplarisch bestraft werden und auf eine halbe Stunde nach Spandau kommen."
Answering a question by a mayor how to punish a man that had committed blasphemy and insulted the king and the City Council.


"Before I endorse this sentence, I am curious to hear of the measures you want to employ for making a simple soldier pay 2000 Taler."
"Bevor ich das gegenwärtige Urteil bestätige, bin Ich doch neugierig, die Mittel zu wissen, deren man sich bedienen will, einen Soldaten 2000 Taler bezahlen zu lassen."
Note on a verdict against a soldier who was sentenced to a fine of 2000 Taler for smuggling.

"
The greatest and noblest pleasure which men can have in this world is to discover new truths; and the next is to shake off old prejudices."


"Audacity, audacity - always audacity!"
L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace!


"Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl."

"Dogs, would you live forever?"
"Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben?"
Adressing his retreating Prussians at the Battle of Kolin on June 18. 1757
qoutes by Bismarck


The great questions of the time are not decided by speeches and majority decisions — that was the error of 1848 and 1849 — but by blood and iron.
Speech to the Prussian Diet (30 September 1862) Variant rendition: The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions... but by iron and blood.

A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence.

Speech to North German Reichstag (24 September 1867)

Setzen wir Deutschland, so zu sagen, in den Sattel! Reiten wird es schon können.
Let us lift Germany, so to speak, into the saddle. It will certainly be able to ride.

Speech to Parliament of Confederation (1867)

He who has his thumb on the purse has the power.

Speech to North German Reichstag (21 May 1869)

With bad laws and good civil servants it's still possible to govern. But with bad civil servants even the best laws can't help.


The luxury of one's own opinion.

Speech to the Prussian Diet (17 December 1873)

Politics is not an exact science . . . but an art.
Speech (15 March 1884)

Wir Deutschen fürchten Gott, sonst aber Nichts in der Welt; und diese Gottesfurcht ist es schon, die uns den Frieden lieben und pflegen lässt.
We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world; and already that godliness is it, which let us love and foster peace.

Speech to the Reichstag (6 February 1888)

Your map of Africa is really quite nice. But my map of Africa lies in Europe. Here is Russia, and here... is France, and we're in the middle — that's my map of Africa.

Conversation with a colonial enthusiast revealing his disapproval of Colonialism. (1888)

Der alte Jude, das ist der Mann.
The old Jew, he is the man.

A conversation in 1879 on who was the centre of gravity at the Congress of Berlin, referring to Benjamin Disraeli


Der König herrscht aber regiert nicht.
The king reigns but does not govern.


Ich bin gewöhnt in der Münze wiederzuzahlen in der man mich bezahlt.
I am accustomed to pay men back in their own coin.


Lieber Spitzkugeln als Spitzreden.
Better pointed bullets than pointed speeches.



A government must not waiver once it has chosen it's course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.


A journalist is a person who has mistaken their calling.


A little caution outflanks a large cavalry.

A really great man is known by three signs— generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation in success.

A statesman... must wait until he hears the steps of God sounding through events, then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment.


Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.


Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.


Beware of sentimental alliances where the consciousness of good deeds is the only compensation for noble sacrifices.


I have never lived on principles. When I have had to act, I never first asked myself on what principles I was going to act, but I went at it and did what I thought fit. I have often reproached myself for my want of principle.


I have seen three emperors in their nakedness, and the sight was not inspiring.


If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans.


Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.


Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.


People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.


Politics is the art of the possible.
The main thing is to make history, not to write it.


What we learn from history is that no one learns from history.


The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.


The whole of the Balkans is not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier.


When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of putting it into practice.


When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.


With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.

[Lord Godfrey]

Here are a few of my favorites:

"The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing."
- Jean Baptiste Colbert, minister of finance to King Louis XIV

“A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.”
- G. Gordon Liddy

"Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?!"
- Gunnery Sergeant Dan Daily, US Marines, before leading his pinned-down men on a charge of German machine gun positions at Belleau Wood, World War I

“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harms way.”
- John Paul Jones

"Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return."
- Colin Powell said to the Archbishop of Canterbury

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."
- Benjamin Franklin, 1759

"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem: They know how it's done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves."
- Irish playwright Brendan Behan

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
- Edmund Burke

[Atilius]

Patrick Cleburne was one of the outstanding division commanders of the American Civil War. He was killed in assault on a strong Union position at Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864. Upon hearing the news, Gen. William Hardee wrote of Cleburne and his command:


Where this division defended, no odds broke its line; where it attacked, no numbers resisted its onslaught, save only once; and there is the grave of Cleburne.

[Red Peasant]

Here are a few of my favorites:

"Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?!"
- Gunnery Sergeant Dan Daily, US Marines, before leading his pinned-down men on a charge of German machine gun positions at Belleau Wood, World War I



Did he know that he was quoting Frederick the Great?

Mind you, it's probably the kind of thing that many officers and NCOs have barked at their men throughout military history.

[Brenus]

Another one I am not sure:
An English cavalry officer:
“Your live belong to God, your horse to the Queen; only your spurs belong to you. Don’t tell me you hesitate for one pair of spurs”

[Aenlic]

Found some more interesting quotes, including a few by that great wit H. L. Mencken and some with more of a history interest like de Tocqueville.

"Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right." - H. L. Mencken

"There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult - to begin a war and to end it." - Alexis de Tocqueville

"Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop." - H. L. Mencken

"A tyrant is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader." - Plato

"Wars are seldom caused by spontaneous hatreds between people, for peoples in general are too ignorant of one another to have grievances and too indifferent to what goes on beyond their borders to plan conquests. They must be urged to the slaughter by politicians who know how to alarm them." - H. L. Mencken

"History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap." - Ronald Reagan

"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." - James Madison

"Talk of imminent threat to our national security through the application of external force is pure nonsense. Indeed it is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear." - Douglas MacArthur

"If the United Nations once admits that international disputes can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the foundation of the organization and our best hope of establishing a world order." - Dwight Eisenhower

"Wars are caused by undefended wealth." - Ernest Hemingway

"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all." - H. L. Mencken

"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." - H. L. Mencken

"Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?" - H. L. Mencken

"If we have Senators and Congressmen there that can't protect themselves against the evil temptations of lobbyists, we don't need to change our lobbies, we need to change our representatives." - Will Rogers

"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?" - Will Rogers

"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts." - Will Rogers

[Brenus]

Georges Clemenceau:

War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men

In order to act, you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking.

[Red Peasant]

Isaiah Berlin:

If, as I believe, the ends of men are many, and not all of them are in principle compatible with each other, then the possibility of conflict — and of tragedy — can never wholly be eliminated from human life, either personal or social.

Freedom for the pike is death for the minnows.