Winston Churchill Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. Upon it depends our own British life and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us now. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'
Major General John Sedgwick (USA) May 9, 1864 "Don't worry, boys, they couldn't hit a barn door at this dist....."
Actually, General Sedgwick said, "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." He then said, laughing, "I'm ashamed of you, dodging that way. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." A few moments later, he was hit below his left eye and died a few minutes later. He said these things because normally his elephant remark would have been absolutely correct. What he didn't know was that the Confederates had received some 250 Whitworth and Kerr sniper rifles, which were accurate up to a thousand yards. A lone sniper with one of these rifles was firing on Sedgwick's men from a distance of about 800 yards and they were ducking and flinching; the general saw this and then uttered his last words.
There's one for the revisionists, holocaust denialists, neo nazis, Germanists, poorly educated and just plain forgetful. PS. The British Empire is rightly gone but the spirit of the free Commonwealth lives on.
In terms of his choice of words, perhaps... His speeching style left much to be desired. Even though his message is obviously nothing to boast about, rhetorically Goebbels was an absolute master. Especially in the original German, his Total War speech will have the ignorant march in step at the drop of a hat. Meanwhile, didn't we have a famous quotes thread a long time ago? I'll go look around... Edit: wow, this thread is absolutely ancient. Let me blow the dust off of it... http://www.fun-online.sk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=146
You didn't like his voice etc. A true master of the English language without doubt (nobel prize). His vocals are somewhat unusual and not to everyone's taste I suppose - though that is probably one of the factors that makes people sit up and take notice. Try reading the quote above without imagining Churchill's voice in your head - quite difficult. The psychological effect of great speakers like Churchill, Hitler (and possibly Goebbels though I'm less familiar with his speeches) can fire people up almost regardless of the content. In Churchill's case, however, the content was generally both worthy and significant too.
Churchill's style of delivery was much the same as most statesmen of his era - you stand there, holding your lapels, and pontificate in a measured fashion. Whereas Goebbels, Hitler, Mussolini etc were very dynamic - lots of movement, lots of forceful tones, etc etc. Churchill wrote well, Goebbels spoke well (though he also wrote well )
In all fairness this is in the World War Two section, perhaps if it's supposed to be more general it might be better off in the Member's Lounge?
I was thinking of mainly making it a WW2 Quotes thread, so mabye it would be better off in the Members Lounge.
Actually, a WW2 Quotes thread is perfectly at home in this section, whereas any other kind of military quotes thread would fit in Non-WW2 History. The Members Lounge is for all things truly off-topic - movie quotes, for instance.
Ah yes! Here is another one. Winston Churchill If Hitler invaded Hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.
My favorite Churchill quote runs as follows "Bugger everything til morning!" Apparently the last thing he would say to himself at night.
"Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist" Adolf Hitler 1939 "The Russian colossus...has been underestimated by us...whenever a dozen divisions are destroyed the Russians replace them with another dozen." General Franz Halder 1941
A ship is always referred to as "she" because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder. Chester W. Nimitz
though it was considered proper behaviour fo officers to feign disdain for sporadic enemy fire , to boost the moral of the troops . a bullet or a mini ball which has traveled well beyond its "efective range " is still quite lethal if it strikes you .a lowly musket ball even when following the arc of a banana ,extreme range , will perhaps be stopped by a breastplate but will pass quite nicely through a wool jacket and take a dirty wad of wool into the wound to boot .perhaps the wound wouldnt be lethal if one was shirtless ,the dirty cloth was almost always lethal a few days later .
"Never have so many fought so hard, for so little, to be betrayed by so few" - I donno where it's from the book says RAF.
It refers to the Polish Air Force or armed forces of Poland in general. How they fought for from the beginning to the end giving it all they had, thought they never had accomplished their goal of a free Poland during the war. The last part refers to the results of the Yalta conference. It was a take on Churchill's "Never have so many owed so much to so few."