94 quotes found
"Very often I receive raccomandazioni for young Fascists or officers or, even worse, persons who do not belong to the organization, with requests that I do something for them in competitive examinations."
"He is a God."
"It is absurd to believe in the possibility of perpetual peace...Fascist education must be education for battle. Fascism believes in sanctity and heroism."
"Our so-called Society people, instead of going in for sport, persist in holding conversations in their drawing rooms, generally in a foreign tongue. They engage nurse maids, personal maids and governesses of all nationalities except Italian. They play poker and bridge with the accompanying drinks, certainly not Italian brands!"
"We would have to make clear to our German ally our disagreement on three points: treatment of the occupied countries, excesses towards the Jews, and relations with the Papacy. One ought to try to create a true European federation respectful of each nationality."
"I've been in contact with Marshal Badoglio. We agree that Italy must be saved from the abyss toward which Fascism is driving her. If we depose Mussolini, however, the new government should do nothing drastic to upset Hitler until we can secretly negotiate an armistice with the Allies."
"I am very much afraid that the loss of Cyrenaica will have serious political consequences for the Duce."
"The Duce told me that he foresaw the possibility of a conflict between Germany and Russia. He said that we could not stay out of this because it involved the struggle against communism. It was, therefore, necessary to make arrangements for the bringing together between Ljubljana and Zagreb of a motorized division, of an armored division, and of the grenadier division."
"The assault on Malta will cost us many casualties… But I am the one who wants it because I consider it absolutely essential for the future development of the war. If we take Malta, Libya will be safe. If not, the situation of the colony will always be precarious."
"If I announce the armistice and the Americans don't send sufficient reinforcements and don't land near Rome, the Germans will seize the city and put in a puppet fascist government."
"There is no doubt that Jacomoni and Visconti Prasca have a large share of the responsibility in the Albanian affair, but the real blame must be sought elsewhere. It lies entirely with the Duce's command. This is a command that he, the Duce, cannot hold. Let him leave everything to us, and when things go wrong let him punish those responsible."
"Militarily it was impossible to invade with the dispositions we had made. We had only seven divisions in Albania. Two of them were necessary to hold the Albanian population from going into revolt. Two others were in reserve. That left us three divisions with which to undertake an offensive. Against us, the Greeks disposed of fifteen divisions. We might have been able to undertake an offensive had those figures been reversed."
"I think if we call in the experts we can draw up the full scheme, with the rallying points arranged."
"By this act, all ties with the dreadful past are broken, and my government will be proud to be able to march with you on to the inevitable victory."
"Sir, give me a single battalion of the Royal Carabineers and I will drive these upstarts into the sea."
"The Germans will make a few scattered attacks, then go away. The Romans will enjoy a fine September."
"When Mussolini decided on war he did not take my advice or that of any other Army chief. In August 1939 the Duce had not been so sure about the invincibility of the Germans, and he told us that he had sought to persuade Hitler not to act."
"Il soldato è come il monaco, per cui l'ordine si chiama obbedienza."
"Io ho conquistato all'Italia un impero e Mussolini l'ha buttato via."
"Non sono mai stato un generale ribelle e l'ho dimostrato sino all'ultimo."
"(A Mussolini) Vostra Eccellenza può contare ora e sempre sulla mia completa e assoluta devozione."
"Io i miei nemici li strangolo lentamente col guanto di velluto."
"Non posso abbandonarmi a voli di fantasia perché ciò è contrario alla mia natura."
"Io sono un militare e non so nulla di correnti politiche."
"Se orgoglio ho io, è quello di aver sempre servito fedelmente e con devozione illimitata voi, Duce."
"C'è un veleno che corrode le dittature: l'incenso. La rovina delle dittature sono i ras osannanti."
"Listen: if there is war down there— and if you think me worthy of it, and capable —you ought to grant me the honor of conducting the campaign. Surely, you don't think me too old?"
"If you know anything, deny, deny, deny. I want to save Fascism."
"Forgive me, that was the soldier speaking. Now this is the man speaking again. And the man is more than the soldier. I can bear anything. Death is a more solemn thing than all the earthly trash."
"This was a great reward for us. We had not had the good fortune to meet the enemy in force."
"We look on seriously, but serenely."
"Herewith I, Marshal of Italy Rodolfo Graziani, in my capacity as Italian Minister of War, extend to General of the Waffen-SS Karl Wolff, the higher SS and police leader and fully empowered general of the German Armed Forces in Italy, the following powers: to conduct negotiations on my behalf and, with the same conditions as for the German Armed Forces in Italy, to enter into agreements binding me with respect to all regular troops of the Italian Army, Navy and Air Force as well as of the military Fascist units."
"It's best that you know this immediately: I have never been a Fascist, but always a soldier who obeyed orders."
"An enemy forgiven is more dangerous than a thousand foes."
"Until face to face with the enemy, who inexorably advanced well protected toward sure prey, they cried with the last spark of life, "Long Live Italy!""
"The Duce will have Ethiopia... with or without Ethiopians."
"Aut Caesar, aut nihil."
"Your brother, Cesar de Borgia, Elect of Valencia"
"However much Rome may be in the habit of speaking and writing, for my own part, I shall give these libellers a lesson in good manners."
"To all our Lieutenants, Castellains, Captains, Condottieri, Officers, Soldiers and Subjects, to whom these presents may be known, we commit and command that to our Most Excellent and Most Beloved Private Architect and General Engineer Leonardo Vinci, bearer of the same, and who has our Commission to survey the holds and fortresses of our States, in order that according to their exigencies and his judgment we may equip them, they are to give free pass, exempt from all public toll to himself and his company, and friendly reception; and to allow him to see, measure and estimate all he may wish. And to this effect they shall order men on his requisition and lend him all the help, assistance and favours he may request, it being our wish that for all works to be done in our Dominions any engineer be compelled to consult him and to conform to his opinion ; and to this may none presume to act in opposition, if it be his pleasure not to incur our indignation."
"Most Illustrious and most Excellent Lady, our very dear Sister,- Confident of the circumstance that there can be no more efficacious and salutary medicine for the indisposition from which you are at present suffering than the announcement of good and happy news, we advise you that at this very moment we have received sure tidings of the capture of Camerino. We beg that you will do honour to this message by an immediate improvement, and inform us of it, because, tormented as we are to know you so ill, nothing, not even this felicitous event, can suffice to afford us pleasure. We beg you also kindly to convey the present to the Illustrious Lord Don Alfonso, your husband and our beloved Brother-in-law, to whom we are not writing to-day."
"A matter which would be easily accomplished, as the best men of that State have already offered themselves to me."
"[I] had not forgotten the way to reconquer it [Urbino]."
"The constellations this year seem unfavourable to rebels.""
"Diet of bankrupts... To-day, Messer Paolo is to visit me, and to-morrow there will be the cardinal; and thus they think to befool me, at their pleasure. But I, on my side, am only dallying with them. I listen to all they have to say and bide my own time."
"senza segno d'alterazione alcuna"
"Without any sign of alteration."
"There is no city, country-side, or castle, nor any place in all Romagna, nor officer or minister of the duke's, who does not know of these abuses; and, amongst others, the famine of wheat occasioned by the traffic which he held against our express prohibition, sending out such quantities as would abundantly have sufficed for the people and the army."
"Ah! Falso ribaldo!"
"This is what I wanted to tell Monsignor di Volterra [Soderini] when he came to Urbino, but I could not entrust him with the secret. Now that my opportunity has come, I have known very well how to make use of it, and I have done a great service to your masters."
"This government of yours does not please me, and I cannot trust it; you must change it and give me a pledge that you will observe everything you promised; otherwise you will soon realize that I do not want to live this way; and I will not ...my friend ...my enemy."
"The object of his campaign has not been to tyrannise, but to extirpate tyrants."
"The princes of the Italian Renaissance routinely used intrigue, treachery, and murder to further their aims. The most notorious among them were the Borgias, whose despotic rule of church and state made a lasting impression. Their leader, Pope Alexander VI, was a greedy and lecherous reprobate. His daughter Lucrezia gained an undeserved reputation for poisoning and incest, and her cold-blooded brother Cesare stopped at nothing to gain and increase power. Together, they terrorized Rome and expanded its domain. Their enterprise collapsed when Alexander Vi died, possibly by poisoning."
"Saturday evening the Duke Valentino arrived here, having come by estafette; His gracious majesty very cheerfully greeted and embraced him and conducted him to the Castle, where he gave him the room nearest to his own, he himself speeding supper and ordering several courses, and that evening three or four times he went to the room even in his nightshirt when he was going to bed. And he insisted on giving the Duke his own shirts and gowns and clothes to wear, the Duke Valentino not having as many waggons as he has horses. In one word, one could not do more for a son or a brother."
"The rather more dubious side of Nietzsche's 'evolutionism' is his glorification of the warrior -- particularly when, as an exemplification of the warrior-hero, he chooses an archetypal 'spoilt brat' like Cesare Borgia."
"What cruelties were not the result of his? Who could count all his crimes?"
"Chi può viver senza mangiare, esca in campagna senza le vittovaglie necessarie."
"Qual meraviglia . . . richiesto tal uno delle cose necessarie alla guerra, egli rispondesse, tre esser quelle : Danaro, danaro, danaro!"
"Nissuno stato pubblico può godersi la quieta, nè ribattere l’injurie, nè diffendere le leggi, la religione e la libertà senza arme."
"Trattar le cose con molti, risolverle con pochi, o da se solo."
"L’arte che imita la natura, opera per gradi, e non a salti."
"È la lancia la regina dell’ armi a cavallo."
"L’ozio è somite del vizio, e della virtute negozio."
"I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor provisions; I offer hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. Let him who loves his country in his heart, and not with his lips only, follow me."
"Qui si fa l'Italia o si muore."
"Roma o morte!"
"Il giorno in cui i contadini saranno educati nel vero, i tiranni e gli schiavi saranno impossibili sulla terra."
"Obbedisco."
"I am a Christian and I speak to Christians—I am a good Christian and speak to good Christians. I love and venerate the religion of Christ because Christ came into the world to deliver humanity from slavery for which God has not created it. But the Pope, who wishes all men to be slaves—who demands of the powerful of the earth fetters and chains for Italians—the Pope king does not know Christ. He lies to his religion. Among the Indians, two geniuses are recognized and adored: that of good and that of evil. Well, the Genius of Evil for Italy is the Pope king. Let no one misunderstand my words—let no one confound Popery with Christianity—the Religion of Liberty with the avaricious and sanguinary Politics of Slavery."
"As to his Goddess Reason, I understand by it simply an adoption of what are called on the continent the principles of the French Revolution. These we neither want nor warmly relish in England."
"We who have seen Italia in the throes, Half risen but to be hurled to ground, and now, Like a ripe field of wheat where once drove plough, All bounteous as she is fair, we think of those Who blew the breath of life into her frame: Cavour, Mazzini, Garibaldi: Three: Her Brain, her Soul, her Sword; and set her free ruinous discords, with one lustrous aim."
"All in all, there is no great figure of modern times so wholly admirable."
"He evoked from the people and even from the politicians a personal devotion almost without parallel in modern history; again and again he chose the right course by instinct; and he showed himself the greatest general that Italy has ever produced."
"In our own day classics have been dethroned without being replaced. But throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries our statesmen were so brought up that they thought of Rome as the hearth of their political civilization, where their predecessor Cicero had denounced Catiline; where the models of their own eloquence and statecraft, as taught them at Eton, Harrow and Winchester, had been practised and brought to perfection. And, therefore, the ruins of the Forum were as familiar, as sacred, and as moving to Russell and to Gladstone as to Mazzini and Garibaldi themselves. This was a prime fact in the history of the Risorgimento."
"Freemasonry is the cultural matrix of the Risorgimento and the founding fathers of the nation"
"The first definition of statesman is a man of state, therefore Musssolini is a statesman. This is stated in the Treccani encyclopedia."
"(About volleyball player Paola Egonu) I have never had any doubts about her Italian citizenship, and I am personally and wholeheartedly proud that she represents our country with her sporting excellence, but this cannot visually conceal her origins, which I am convinced she herself is proud of."
"If I see a homosexual, I'm not like Dracula with a crucifix."
"What I criticize is the exhibitionist flaunting of this taste, which often tends to override what is, in fact, the common sense of the majority. Gay Pride? If they want to hold a parade in Rome or Turin, let them do it. One might wonder why they want to show off. Gay Pride claims to be fighting for rights, but even that is debatable. Rights are not differentiated; rights are for everyone. There are no rights for gays, rights for heterosexuals, rights for blondes, for brunettes, for those with blue eyes: there are rights for people. It's exhibitionism."
"(In elementary and middle school) There were those who had spent many years in Africa, those in Morocco, those in South America; their homes were filled with ever-changing and stimulating scents. It was then that I began to think of differences in language and culture as new territories to explore."
"Quality is the story of differences."
"Carla Bruni was my classmate from elementary school through middle school. Her father was an important industrialist in the tire industry, linked to the Pirelli group. She was a smart, lively child with a great passion for music."
"I believe that classes with separate characteristics (see w:it:classi differenziali) would help children with great potential to express themselves to the fullest, and even those with more difficulties would be helped in a special way. It is not discriminatory. For students with problems, I rely on specialists. I am not specialized in disabilities."
"[...] I don't see why it is necessary to have an anti-fascist license to express one's opinions. I also claim consideration for Mussolini, who is a statesman, as were Cavour, Stalin, and all men who have held positions of state: it is the first definition of statesman in the dictionary."
"(On abortion) [...] an unfortunate necessity that women are forced to resort to. I don't think it's a right."
"We are powerless, that's it; frankly, when faced with these characters, while in normal investigations, in cases of criminality, we can cope and have even achieved significant results, when it comes to the mafia as such, as it is framed in a particular context, it is difficult for us to obtain evidence..."
"Certain things are not done out of courage, they are done simply to be able to look our children and our children's children in the eye with greater peace of mind."
"Anyone who thinks they can fight the Mafia in the Palermo area and not in the rest of Italy is just wasting their time."
"As long as a party card counts for more than the state, we will never be able to defeat the mafia."
"The messages already sent to some media outlets by the most corrupt “political family” (Andreotti's, ed.) in the area have already had the desired effect."
"Yesterday, the Hon. Andreotti asked me to go [to see him] and, naturally, given his electoral presence in Sicily, he indirectly expressed his interest in the issue. I was very clear and assured him that I would not show any consideration for the part of the electorate that his electors draw on."
"The Christian Democrats in Palermo live with the worst expression of their mafia activism, as well as their political activism [...]. The State entrusts the tranquility of its existence not to the will to fight and eradicate the mafia and mafia politics, but to the exploitation of my name to silence the irritation of the parties [...] ready to throw me to the wind as soon as certain interests are or must be touched or understood."
"If it is true that power exists, this power belongs solely to the State, its institutions, and its laws; we cannot delegate this power to abusers, bullies, or dishonest individuals."
"The KGB was directly involved in the kidnapping of Moro. Cossiga and Andreotti knew where he was being held prisoner, but prevented General Dalla Chiesa from intervening. Falcone and Borsellino? That was the work of Gladio and the CIA. [...] Yes, Cossiga and Andreotti knew. There is a document dated March 2, 1978, which I only learned about 25 years later and which I publish in my book as proof. Dalla Chiesa also learned of Moro's place of imprisonment and wanted to intervene to free him as early as the beginning of April. When the base in Via Gradoli was burned down, it was done precisely to prevent Dalla Chiesa from intervening. The general was ordered to abandon the camp, then he talked about it with the journalist Mino Pecorelli, who wrote about it. Both knew and both were killed."