The Second World War: Closing The Ring

Quotes

1. Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves.

   • Freedom
   • War

2. 

   One day President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war should be called. I said at once 'The Unnecessary War'.

   • War

3. 

   Their horse cavalry, of which they had twelve brigades, charged valiantly against the swarming tanks and armoured cars but could not harm them with their swords and lances.

   • War

4. 

   I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, "Verify your quotations."

5. 

   This was one of the heaviest blows I can recall during the war....It was a bitter moment. Defeat is one thing; disgrace is another.

   • War

   p. 343

6. 

   Silly people, and there are many, not only in enemy countries, might discount the force of the United States. Some said they were soft, others that they would never be united. They would fool around at a distance. They would never come to grips. They would never stand bloodletting. Their democracy and system of recurrent elections would paralyse their war horizon to friend or foe. Now we should see the weakness of this numerous but remote, wealthy, and talkative people. But I had studied the American Civil War, fought out to the last desperate inch.

   • War

   p. 540

7. 

   In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Good Will.

   • War

8. 

   When I look back on all these worries I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.

   • Fear

9. 

   Fascism was the shadow or ugly child of communism... As Fascism sprang from Communism, so Nazism developed from Fascism. Thus were set on foot those kindred movements which were destined soon to plunge the world into more hideous strife, which none can say has ended with their destruction.

   • Politics
   • History
   • War

   p. 13

10. 

    Of course, when you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.

    • War
    • Success and failure

11. 

    No American will think it wrong of me if I proclaim that to have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. I could not foretell the course of events. I do not pretend to have measured accurately the martial might of Japan, but now at this very moment I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all! ... Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder.

    • War

12. 

    I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial.

    • Fate

13. 

    By noon it was clear that the Socialists would have a majority. At luncheon my wife said to me, 'It may well be a blessing in disguise.' I replied, 'At the moment it seems quite effectively disguised.'

    • Humor
    • Politics

    p. 583

14. 

    Those who are prone, by temperament and character, to seek sharp and clear-cut solutions of difficult and obscure problems, who are ready to fight whenever some challenge comes from a foreign power, have not always been right. On the other hand, those whose inclination is to bow their heads, to seek patiently and faithfully for peaceful compromise, are not always wrong. On the contrary, in the majority of instances they may be right, not only morally, but from a practical standpoint. How many wars have been averted by patience and persisting good will! Religion and virtue alike lend their sanctions to meekness and humility, not only between men but between nations. How many wars have been precipitated by firebrands! How many misunderstandings which led to wars could have been removed by temporizing! How often have countries fought cruel wars and then after a few years found themselves not only friends but allies!

    • War

15. 

    The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril.

    • War
    • Fear

    p. 529

16. 

    War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.

    • War
    • Mistakes

17. 

    A number of social problems arose. I had been told that neither smoking nor alcoholic beverages were allowed in the [Saudi] Royal Presence. As I was the host at luncheon I raised the matter at once, and said to the interpreter that if it was the religion of His Majesty [Ibn Saud] to deprive himself of smoking and alcohol I must point out that my rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars and also the drinking of alcohol before, after, and if need be during all meals and in the intervals between them. The King graciously accepted the position. His own cup-bearer from Mecca offered me a glass of water from its sacred well, the most delicious I had ever tasted.

    • Humor

    p. 348

18. 

    Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein, we never had a defeat.

    • War
    • Success and failure

19. 

    Some people did not like this ceremonious style. But after all when you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.

20. 

    Baldwin, Stanley ... confesses putting party before country, 169-70; ...

    • Politics

That’s all the quotes.

20 quotes in the collection · come back when we add more