Famous Quotations

‘Propaganda is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. If the means achieves the end then the means is good. The new Ministry has no other aim than to unite the nation behind the ideal of the national revolution.’

‘The assertion that it is the intention of the German Reich to coerce the Austrian State is absurd and cannot be substantiated or proved.’

‘The press of Italy is free, freer than the press of any other country, so long as it supports the regime’

‘The forty-eight hours after the march into the Rhineland were the most nerve-racking in my life. If the French had then marched into the Rhineland, we would have had to withdraw with our tails between our legs.’

‘I often think how much easier the world would have been to manage if Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini had been at Oxford.’

‘The Japanese Army as it is to-day is a formidable force.’

‘The British Government cannot accept the view that force should be the arbiter in the Far East.’

‘It is my unalterable decision to smash Czechoslovakia by military action in the near future’

‘In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers.’

‘My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time...Go home and get a nice quiet sleep.’

‘Japan’s mission in East Asia is to establish a new order based on justice.’

‘I want today to be a prophet again: if the international Jewish financiers inside and outside of Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, the result will not be the Bolshevisation of the earth and therefore the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.’

‘Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist! ... Since yesterday, German troops have been on the march to restore order and peace in these territories.’

‘This night for the first time Polish regular soldiers fired on our own territory. We have now been returning the fire since 5:45 a.m.! Henceforth, bomb will be met with bomb.’

‘Citizens of the Republic! This night our eternal enemy has commenced hostilities against the Polish State.’

‘If the blood of France and of Germany flows again, as it did twenty-five years ago, in a longer and even more murderous war, each of the two peoples will fight with confidence in its own victory, but the most certain victors will be the forces of destruction and barbarism.’

‘I am speaking to you from the cabinet room at 10 Downing Street. This morning the British ambassador in Berlin handed the German government a final note stating that unless we heard from them by 11 o’clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany.’

‘This is a sad day for all of us, and to none is it sadder than to me. Everything that I have worked for, everything that I have believed in during my public life, has crashed into ruins’

‘It is evil things we shall be fighting against, brute force, bad faith, injustice, oppression and persecution.’

‘Where Britain goes, we go; where she stands, we stand.’

‘In this solemn hour it is a consolation to recall and to dwell upon our repeated efforts for peace. All have been ill-starred, but all have been faithful and sincere.’

‘I wanted Warsaw to be great. I believed that it would be. And today I see it is great.’

‘We will fight to the last man, to the last bullet, for our freedom, for our independence.’

‘There is something phoney about this war.’

‘We have to kill one another just to satisfy that accursed madman.’

‘One swift blow by the German army, followed by another from the Red Army, and nothing remained of this ugly offspring of the Versailles Treaty.’

‘Since we cannot move Leningrad ... then we must move the border.’

‘We have no other choice but to fight for our independence, for our freedom, and for our homes.’

‘It is Our wish that the Empire shall contribute to world peace by establishing a new order in Greater East Asia.’

‘Finland alone, in danger of death, superb, sublime Finland, shows what free men can do’

‘Singapore... could only be taken after a siege by an army of at least 50,000 men... it is not considered possible that the Japanese... would embark on such a mad enterprise.’

‘If Italy wants to be a truly world power, she must resolve the problem of her maritime frontiers... Suez and Gibraltar are the keys.’

‘Whatever reason Hitler had for not making an immediate endeavour to overwhelm us, one thing is certain - he has missed the bus... Those seven months’ delay have enabled us to remove weaknesses and so enormously add to our fighting strength that the future can be faced with a calm mind’

‘I have assumed the authority of the state to prevent further bloodshed and to maintain order. The government has fled, leaving Norway without leadership; I will ensure our cooperation with Germany secures our independence.’

‘Despite repeated and solemn assurances of peaceful intentions, they invaded Denmark and Norway on 9th April 1940.’

‘Our task is to secure Norway quickly and decisively. We must prevent British forces from landing and hold the country as a base for future operations in the North Atlantic.’

‘The government has yielded to superior force. To resist further would mean useless bloodshed and the bombing of Copenhagen. We must seek to safeguard our people under these difficult circumstances.’

‘For my part, I cannot accept the German demands; it would be a violation of our constitution. If the government feels it cannot follow me in this, there is no longer any need for me to remain king.’

‘It is humiliating to remain with our hands folded while others write history. It matters little who wins. To make a people great it is necessary to send them to battle even if you have to kick them in the pants. That is what I shall do.’

‘FORCE AND MILITARY AGGRESSION are once more on the march against small nations, in this instance through the invasion of Denmark and Norway... If civilization is to survive, the rights of the smaller nations to independence, to their territorial integrity, and to the unimpeded opportunity for self‑government must be respected by their more powerful neighbours.’

‘I have no doubt that our action, which at the last moment forestalled the execution of the Allied plan and which under all circumstances will stop France and England from getting a foothold in Scandinavia, will have consequences which will be a blessing to the Scandinavian peoples.’

‘We shall resist the aggressor and safeguard our nation’s sovereignty’

‘Belgium will defend its neutrality and stand firm against any aggression’

‘Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.’

‘My strength has now been reduced to the equivalent of 36 squadrons... we should be able to carry on the war single-handed for some time if not indefinitely.’

‘We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations.’

‘Dunkirk has fallen... with it has ended the greatest battle of world history. Soldiers! My confidence in you knew no bounds. You have not disappointed me.’

‘We are a young and hungry people... The struggle is between the fertile and the sterile, between the youth and the decaying world of the plutocracies.’

‘France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war.’

‘Is the last word said? Has all hope gone? Is the defeat final? No! ... For France is not alone! She is not alone! She is not alone! She has a vast Empire behind her. She can align with the British Empire that holds the sea and continues the fight.’

‘My Luftwaffe is invincible... And so now we turn to England. How long will this one last - two, three weeks?’

‘Mussolini is quite humiliated because our troops have not moved a step forward. Even today they have not succeeded in advancing and have halted in front of the first French fortification which put up some resistance.’

‘We are trying to fight this war as if it were a colonial war... but here we are facing a professional army equipped with modern means.’

‘Now, the day on which the first German platoon sets foot on English soil, you must attack... I only ask you to attack the British forces facing you.’

‘The gratitude of every home in our Island... goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War... Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’

‘I should like an outfit of Spitfires for my squadron.’

‘Never has a military operation been undertaken so much against the will of the commanders.’

‘Like so many of our people, we have now had a personal experience of German barbarity which only strengthens the resolution of all of us to fight through to final victory.’

‘The Italian flag is flying over the soil of Egypt. The British are in full retreat.’

‘Fuhrer, we are on the march! Victorious Italian troops crossed the Greco-Albanian frontier at dawn today!’

‘Once more a red fire blows steeply upwards... the factory will do no more work for Herr Churchill... tomorrow morning Coventry will lie in smoke and ruins.’

‘I do not entertain extravagant hopes of this operation, but I do wish to make certain that if a big opportunity occurs we are prepared morally, mentally and administratively to use it to the fullest.’

‘I am going to attack the enemy. If he is as strong as reported, I shall be beaten. If he is not, I shall beat him.’

‘The only thing that matters is to beat the enemy. This must be done with furious energy and without regard for any risks.’

‘I am sure you will do your best to make this a 'crushing victory' and not a 'mere successful operation.’

‘When Barbarossa commences, the world will hold its breath and make no comment.’

‘We must be the great arsenal of democracy. For us this is an emergency as serious as war itself.’

‘In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.’

‘The Italians are many, but they are not the men we are. We shall go through them like a knife through butter.’

‘We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job.’

‘Rommel brings fire and energy. Let us hope it ignites our own troops.’

‘The war in North Africa will be won by the side which can get its forces to the right place at the right time—with speed, surprise, and audacity.’

‘The situation is more favourable than I dared to hope. The Italians are reorganising, and our forces have made a strong impression.’

‘The Germans have come to aid us, but Africa remains an Italian theatre of war. We shall restore the honour of our armies.’

‘The arrival of German forces will stiffen the Italians, but the desert remains a battle of supply lines. Their numbers are still small; we must not exaggerate.’

‘I shall attack, come what may.’

‘The Australians fight with remarkable tenacity. They are very tough opponents and it is no easy task against them.’

‘Japan will advance southward to establish the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.’

‘Tobruk — the fortress of Tobruk – which flanks any German advance on Egypt, we hold strongly. There we have repulsed many attacks, causing the enemy heavy losses and taking many prisoners.’

‘The fortress of Tobruk, which flanks the enemy’s advance upon Egypt, we hold strongly. There the enemy has been repulsed with heavy loss. The gallant garrison of Australians and British troops stands firm.’

‘The struggle is not only against arms, but against hunger.’

‘At this moment a march is taking place that, in its extent, compares with the greatest the world has ever seen.’

‘Our troops must hurl themselves with all their means and energy against the enemy and annihilate them in all places where they have violated our frontiers.’

‘No one has been a more consistent opponent of Communism than I have for the last 25 years. I will unsay no word that I have spoken about it. But all this fades away before the spectacle which is now unfolding.’

‘We have but one aim and one single, irrevocable purpose. We are resolved to destroy Hitler and every vestige of the Nazi regime. From this nothing will turn us — nothing. We will never parley, we will never negotiate with Hitler or any of his gang. We shall fight him by land, we shall fight him by sea, we shall fight him in the air, until, with God’s help, we have rid the earth of his shadow.’

‘The Russian danger is therefore our danger, and the danger of the United States, just as the cause of any Russian fighting for his hearth and home is the cause of free men and free peoples in every quarter of the globe.’

‘If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.’

‘Comrades! Citizens! Brothers and sisters! Fighters of our army and navy! I am addressing you, my friends! The enemy must not be allowed to seize a single engine, not a single railway car, not a single kilogram of grain or a litre of fuel.’

‘The enemy will never set foot in our beautiful city... Let us all rise up in defense of our city. Children of freedom and honor! It is a sacred duty, and we will fulfill it.’

‘The struggle against Russia must be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful, and unrelenting harshness.’

‘The National Defence Committee appeals to all the workers of Moscow to observe order, remain calm and give their entire support to the Red Army in the defence of the capital.’

‘In war, resolution; in defeat, defiance; in victory, magnanimity; in peace, goodwill.’

‘The German-fascist invaders want to destroy the Soviet people and enslave them. But they will not succeed. The enemy shall be crushed. Victory will be ours.’

‘Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.’

‘Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.’

‘The fact that the Japanese Government, which has been negotiating for years with this man Roosevelt, has finally taken action, fills us all, the German people and myself, with deep satisfaction.’

‘Nothing would please me better than if they would give me three months and then attack here.’

‘In our resolve must be the knowledge that no matter what the trials and the difficulties, America will endure and triumph.’

‘Australia and New Zealand are now threatened by the might of the Imperial Japanese forces, and both of them should know that any resistance is futile.’

‘The war can only end with the complete destruction of the enemy.’

‘The enemy is trying to break our will, but we will not be broken.’

‘This war no longer bears the characteristics of former inter-European conflicts. It is one of those elemental conflicts which usher in a new millennium and which shake the world once in a thousand years.’

‘We are all in this together, and we must all do our part to ensure victory.’

‘Italy will rise again, and we will achieve great victories.’

‘The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw, and now many other places, they put their rather naive theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind.’

‘The war will be decided by the strength of our arms and the will of our people.’

‘We will defend our motherland with all our might and never give up.’

‘Goddam it, you'll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!’

‘The defeat of the enemy in the Battle of El Alamein, the pursuit of his beaten army and the final capture of Tripoli... has all been accomplished in three months. This is probably without parallel in history.’

‘The troops of the Don Front at 4pm on the 2nd February 1943 completed the rout and destruction of the encircled group of enemy forces in Stalingrad. Twenty two divisions have been destroyed or taken prisoner.’

‘Total War’

‘On behalf of the people of the United States, I want to express to the Red Army … our profound admiration for its magnificent achievements.’

‘They (the Americans) are, I think, a bit unwarrantably cock-a-hoop as a result of their limited experience to date. But they are setting about it in a realistic and business-like way... I have a feeling that they will do it.’

‘We are going into Burma to fight the Japanese, not to retreat.’

‘Even without the allied offensive, I should have had to capitulate by the 1st June at the latest as I had no more to eat.’

‘...Our losses... have reached an intolerable level. The enemy air force played a decisive role in inflicting these high losses.’

‘The heavy casualties inflicted on the enemy have greatly affected his morale and will prove to be a turning point in the battle of the Atlantic.’

‘Soldiers of the Reich! Today you are entering upon an offensive whose importance may be decisive for the future course of the war.’

‘It would take one million men one hundred years to take Tarawa.’

‘The Germans may claim with some justification to have won, if not a victory, at least an important success over us.’

‘The enemy knows that he must wipe out our fighters. Once he has done that, he will be able to play football with the German people.’

‘The 2nd Marine Division has been especially chosen by the High Command for the assault on Tarawa... what you do there will set a standard for all future operations in the central Pacific area.’

‘Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency; we are winning.’

‘Wingate was a man of genius and inspiration.’

‘The first twenty-four hours of the invasion will be decisive… the fate of Germany depends on the outcome.’

‘Now, I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.’

‘Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.’

‘You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade… The eyes of the world are upon you… we will accept nothing less than full Victory!’

‘It is still too early to determine whether this is the main Allied landing or a diversion.’

‘The troops…Really believed that victory was possible – unlike the senior commanders who knew the facts.’

‘We must hold on.’

‘I am not responsible for the plan. I am only responsible for my brigade.’

‘People of the Philippines: I have returned.’

‘Each man will make it his duty to kill ten of the enemy before dying.’

‘The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years.’

‘I do not personally regard the whole of the remaining cities of Germany as worth the bones of one British Grenadier. The strategic justification of these programs is that they tend to shorten the war and preserve the lives of Allied soldiers.’

‘The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front have begun the assault on Berlin.’

‘Never has a more luminous star been higher in our sky... He is the reason why Germany is still standing today, and why the German people have not been swept away by the storm of the East.’

‘The Führer has decided to remain in Berlin. We will stand or fall with him.’

‘The Führer is in our midst. He and his staff will stay in Berlin... We will defend the city to the last.’

‘Comrades! Men and women compatriots! The great day of victory over Germany has come. Fascist Germany… has acknowledged herself defeated…’

‘Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima… That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T.… more than two thousand times the blast power…’

‘The enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power … is incalculable… Should we continue to fight … it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.’