Favorite Historical Quotes

[Ole John Reb]

I was wondering what your guys favorite quotes were. Mine is the speech given by William Prescott or Isreal Putnam at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

"Men, you are all marksmen — don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes. Powder is scarce and must not be wasted. Then aim low. Aim at their waistbands, aim at the handsome coats; pick off the officers."

 

[ancalimon]

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives (at Gallipoli battles).. You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours.. You the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears. Your sons are now living in our bosom and are in peace. Having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.  -Ataturk

 

[Lord Brutus]

"The only thing new in this world is the history you don't know." Former US president Harry S. Truman

 

[Blackfish]

"What? Men dodging this way for single bullets? What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." - Gen. John Sedgwick, moments before being shot by a Confederate sniper

 

[Majhudeen]

"War deosn't determine who is right. Only who is left." - Anonymous soldier circa Spanish Civil War

 

[Darth Bauer]

All quotes from Medieval Total War series and Empire Total War.

 

[Khassaki]

"O Byzantines! If success is your desire and if you seek right guidance and want your empire to remain then give the pledge to this Prophet"
~ Heraclius, Roman Emperor

By the Lord of the Ka`bah! I have slain Rustam! I am Hilal ibn 'Ullafah! Quote from Battle of al-Qādisiyyah

 

[Archonsod]

"Strike at the enemy with humane treatment as effectively as with weapons." - Suvarov

 

[Kazzan]

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."
Voltaire

 

[Urlik]

for me it has to be Churchill's speech

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender

 

[FrisianDude]

/cue Iron Maiden's Aces High.

 

[Urlik]

/cue Iron Maiden's Aces High.

the World Slavery Tour was Epic

 

[Winterwolf00]

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

[Almalexia]

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Though ironically the Great Depression ended in the US due to the increased munitions production to supply the combatants in WW2.

 

[Winterwolf00]

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Though ironically the Great Depression ended in the US due to the increased munitions production to supply the combatants in WW2.

I like to think it was mostly the New Deal reforms that made it possible. But yes your right, many men got rich off of the war.

 

[Archonsod]

for me it has to be Churchill's speech

Am I the only one who thinks it would have been completely epic for an MP to stand up after that and say "you speak for yourself mate".

Although saying that, I think Churchill's greatest quote:
"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."

 

[Urlik]

for me it has to be Churchill's speech

Am I the only one who thinks it would have been completely epic for an MP to stand up after that and say "you speak for yourself mate".

that would have been funny, but after that speech, I could see anyone saying that getting torn limb from limb LOL.

Although saying that, I think Churchill's greatest quote:
"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."

no, Churchill's best quote was
"I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly."

 

[Almalexia]

I like to think it was mostly the New Deal reforms that made it possible. But yes your right, many men got rich off of the war.

Err, no sir. Even here, in the US, where the textbooks largely take a shine on FDR, they teach that the New Deal reforms were largely ineffective. It was the war, no the reforms, that got us out of the Depression.

 

[Jock]

Some of my favorite ones:
"Every man dies, but not every man really lives."- William Wallace

"War does not determine who is right - only who is left." - Bertrand Russell

"When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die."  - Jean-Paul Sartre

"Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity."  - Author Unknown

 

[Arrakhis]

'I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways' Macbeth by Shakespeare

'Kill them all, God recognises his owns.' -Arnald of Amalric

'Peasants/Farmers and Soldiers are 1 whole body, in time of peace they re farmers, in time of war, they are soldiers' Chinese Philospher (around 400-200 BC, I forgot his name)