Favourite Historical Quotes

[griffin]

One of my favourite quotations:

Dominique Bouhours (15 May 1628 - 27 May 1702)
"I am about to -- or I am going to -- die; either expression is used. "

[Paullus Scipio]

Some more military wit and wisdom......

"Not believing in Force is the same as not believing in Gravity" - Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

" In war we must always leave room for strokes of fortune and accidents that cannot be foreseen" Polybius, Histories c.130-125 B.C.

" You see my sword dripping with blood, and my horse with sweat. It is thus that the enemy are beaten in battle!" - Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar a.k.a El Cid 1094
..and the similar..

"War means fighting, and fighting means killing." -Lt Gen Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877)

...and the opposite approach........

Anonymous Italian general :"If you are a great general, come out and fight me!"
Gaius Marius (c.157-86 B.C.)(Roman commander); "If you are a great general, come and make me !!"

[Primvs Pavlvs]

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace²but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

Patrick Henry

[M. Demetrius]

...give me liberty or give me death...

sah LOOOT!!

[Aetius Helvius Merula]

I am still alive!
-Caligula after being stabbed, somewhat premature.

Friends applaud, the comedy is over.
-Ludwig Beethoven

Minor surgery is only minor if it's done on someone else.
-My father. Not a historical quote, but true notheless.

[Paullus Scipio]

On generals and Generalship :-
"A good general not only sees the way to victory; he also knows when victory is not possible" - Polybius

"The General must know how to get his men their rations and every other kind of stores needed for war.He must have imagination to initiate plans, practical common sense, and energy to carry them through. He must be observant, untiring, shrewd, kindly and cruel, simple and crafty; a watchman and a soldier; lavish and miserly; generous and yet tight-fisted; both rash and conservative. All these and many other qualities, natural and acquired, must he have.
He should also, as a matter of course, know his tactics; for a disorderly mob is no more an army than a heap of building material is a house."
-Socrates, as quopted by Xenophon,(c.431 B.C. - c. 352B.C ) Memorabilia

....just as true today ! .......as is this...
)
"The greatest general is he who makes the fewest mistakes" - Napoleon (1769-1821)

[Jona Lendering]

I am still alive!
-Caligula after being stabbed, somewhat premature.

To be a bit more precise: these are Caligula's last words in the play by Camus. But fiction is better than truth, I'd say.

Friends applaud, the comedy is over.
-Ludwig Beethoven

Augustus said the same: "Acta est fabula, plaudite!" (Suetonius, Augustus 99)

[Aetius Helvius Merula]

I am still alive!
-Caligula after being stabbed, somewhat premature.

To be a bit more precise: these are Caligula's last words in the play by Camus. But fiction is better than truth, I'd say.

I wondered about that, but it appealed to my ironic sense of humor so I threw it in anyway.

[Matthew Amt]

"Kill them all--God will know his own." --The Papal Legate in command of troops assaulting the heretic stronghold of Albi in the 14th (?) century.

One of my own personal aphorisms: "All good truths are brutal."

Matthew

[tlclark]

Some of my father's

"Once I gave up hope, I felt much better"

"The secret to happiness is to lower your expectations to the level of your accomplishments"

And one from Sherman

"Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and defeat."

Sherman is offten misquoted as saying "War is hell" meaning it shouldn't be fought, 180 degrees opposite from what Sherman actually meant!

[wdial]

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
Albert Einstein

It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.
Robert E. Lee

The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.
Josef Stalin

You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.
Napoleon Bonaparte

[Jona Lendering]

"The lot of emperors is most unhappy, since when they discover a conspiracy, no one believes them unless they have been killed."

A beautiful, sad remark by Domitian (Suetonius, Domitian, 21).

[Matthew Amt]

OH! Can't believe none of us thought to mention this one yet:

"Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!" --Conan the Barbarian

And of course the Spartan response to the Persian demand that they surrender their weapons at Thermopylae: "Molon labe"--"Come and take them!"

Matthew

[Primvs Pavlvs]

And of course the Spartan response to the Persian demand that they surrender their weapons at Thermopylae: "Molon labe"--"Come and take them!"

Matthew

Bumper sticker on my truck! :wink:

[Tarbicus]

And of course the Spartan response to the Persian demand that they surrender their weapons at Thermopylae: "Molon labe"--"Come and take them!"

Matthew

Bumper sticker on my truck! :wink:

I hope not, considering what some say to be the correct translation of "Molon lave"