People of World War II

"I want to impose on everyone that the bad times are over, they are finished! Our mandate from the Prime Minister is to destroy the Axis forces in North Africa...It can be done, and it will be done!"

"The time has come to deal the enemy a terrific blow in Western Europe."

"Anyone who votes Labour ought to be locked up."

"Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: "Do not march on Moscow". Various people have tried it, Napoleon and Hitler, and it is no good. That is the first rule. I do not know whether your Lordships will know Rule 2 of war. It is: "Do not go fighting with your land armies in China". It is a vast country, with no clearly defined objectives."

"The United States has broken the second rule of war. That is: don't go fighting with your land army on the mainland in Asia. Rule One is, don't march on Moscow. I developed those two rules myself."

"The frightful casualties appalled me. The so-called "good fighting generals" of the war appeared to me to be those who had a complete disregard for human life. There were of course exceptions and I suppose one was Plumer; I had only once seen him and I had never spoken to him."

"There were many reasons why we did not gain complete success at Arnhem. The following in my view were the main ones. First. The operation was not regarded at Supreme Headquarters as the spearhead of a major Allied movement on the northern flank designed to isolate, and finally to occupy, the Ruhr - the one objective in the West which the Germans could not afford to lose. There is no doubt in my mind that Eisenhower always wanted to give priority to the northern thrust and to scale down the southern one. He ordered this to be done, and he thought that it was being done. It was not being done. Second. The airborne forces at Arnhem were dropped too far away from the vital objective - the bridge. It was some hours before they reached it. I take the blame for this mistake. I should have ordered Second Army and 1st Airborne Corps to arrange that at least one complete Parachute Brigade was dropped quite close to the bridge, so that it could have been captured in a matter of minutes and its defence soundly organised with time to spare. I did not do so. Third. The weather. This turned against us after the first day and we could not carry out much of the later airborne programme. But weather is always an uncertain factor, in war and in peace. This uncertainty we all accepted. It could only have been offset, and the operation made a certainty, by allotting additional resources to the project, so that it became an Allied and not merely a British project. Fourth. The 2nd S.S. Panzer Corps was refitting in the Arnhem area, having limped up there after its mauling in Normandy. We knew it was there. But we were wrong in supposing that it could not fight effectively; its battle state was far beyond our expectation. It was quickly brought into action against the 1st Airborne Division."

"The British soldier is second to none in the communities of fighting men. Some may possess more élan, others may be better disciplined; but none excels him in all-round character. We require no training in bravery in Britain; we can trust to our own native manliness to see us through. So it is with the soldier. It is his natural pride which gives him his fighting qualities. How often he has stood firm before tyranny and oppression, the last hope of the free world! In the midst of the noise and confusion of the battlefield, the simple homely figure of the British soldier stands out calm and resolute—dominating all around him with his quiet courage, his humour and his cheerfulness, his unflinching acceptance of the situation. May the ideals for which he has struggled never vanish from the world! May he never be forgotten by the nation for which he has fought so nobly! I know better than most to what heights the British soldier can aspire. His greatness is a measure of the greatness of the British character, and I have seen the quality of our race proved again and again on the battlefield."

"Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence."

"On January 7, the senior British officer on the Continent, the commander of 21st Army Group, which included the U.S. Ninth Army but no longer the First, held a press conference. Montgomery told the press that on the very first day of the Bulge, "as soon as I saw what was happening I took certain steps myself to ensure that if the Germans got to the Meuse they would certainly not get over the river. And I carried out certain movements so as to provide balanced dispositions to meet the threatened danger... i.e., I was thinking ahead." Soon Eisenhower put him in command of the northern flank, and he then brought the British into the fight, and thus saved the Americans. "You have thus the picture of British troops fighting on both sides of American forces who have suffered a hard blow. This is a fine Allied picture." It had been an "interesting" battle, Montgomery said, rather like El Alamein; indeed, "I think possibly one of the most interesting and tricky battles I have ever handled." He added that GIs made great fighting men, when given proper leadership. Every American in Europe was outraged. As the GIs and their officers saw the battle, they had stopped the Germans before Montgomery came onto the scene. Almost no British forces were even engaged in the Bulge. Far from directing the victory, Montgomery had gotten in everyone's way and botched the counterattack. But what was especially galling about Montgomery's version of the Bulge was his immense satisfaction with the progress of the counterattack. Although the linkup of First and Third Armies was still a week away, and although the Germans were pulling out in good order, saving much of their equipment and men, Monty was claiming complete victory. Patton ranted and raved to every reporter who would listen, telling them publicly what he had already written privately in his diary- that had it not been for Montgomery, "we could have bagged the whole German army. I wish Ike were more of a gambler, but he is certainly a lion compared to Montgomery, and Bradley is better than Ike as far as nerve is concerned. Monty is a tired little fart. War requires the taking of risks and he won't take them.""

"One always had the curious feeling of being taught by a great master. In this connection it is interesting to note that he was privately and affectionately known by those who worked for him at TAC HQ as 'Master'."

"I had the greatest admiration for his precision of statement and lucidity as a lecturer and also for what I, as an airman, considered his ability and breadth of view as a soldier. But he appeared to me to be regarded with grave suspicion for holding what I understood were heretical, though they seemed to me very reasonable, views about the conduct of future war. As a stranger in a strange land I kept my own counsel, but I left the course with a very definite impression that in Monty we certainly had a soldier who knew his onions, no matter what the "high-ups" in the army might officially think of the smell."

"I knew him well by reputation. He was probably the most discussed general in the British Army before the war, and-except with those who had served under him - not a popular figure. Regular armies in all countries tend to produce a standard type of officer, but Monty, somehow or other, didn't fit into the British pattern. His methods of training and command were unorthodox, always a deadly crime in military circles. He was known to be ruthlessly efficient, but somewhat of a showman. I had been told sympathetically that I wouldn't last long under his command, and, to be honest, I would rather have served under any other divisional commander."

"Monty was not such a dashing, romantic figure as his opponent; nor would you find him leading a forlorn hope in person, for the simple reason that if he was in command forlorn hopes did not occur. He had an extraordinary capacity for putting his finger straight on the essentials of any problem, and of being able to explain them simply and clearly. He planned all his battles most carefully - and then put them out of his mind every night. I believe he was awakened in the night only half a dozen times during the whole war."

"General Montgomery is a very able, dynamic type of army commander. I personally think that the only thing he needs is a strong immediate commander. He loves the limelight but in seeking it, it is possible that he does so only because of the effect upon his own soldiers, who are certainly devoted to him. I have great confidence in him as a combat commander. He is intelligent, a good talker, and has a flair for showmanship. Like all other senior British officers, he has been most loyal - personally and officially - and has shown no disposition whatsoever to overstep the bounds imposed by allied unity of command."

"Steady, Monty. You can't speak to me like that. I'm your boss."

"Nevertheless, again there cropped up criticisms of Montgomery's "caution," which I had first heard among pressmen and airmen when he was conducting his long pursuit of Rommel across the desert. Criticism is easy- an unsuccessful attack brings cries of "butcher" just as every pause brings wails of "timidity." Such charges are unanswerable because proof or refutation is impossible. In war about the only criterion that can be applied to a commander is his accumulated record of victory and defeat. If regularly successful, he gets credit for his skill, his judgement as to the possible and impossible, and his leadership. Those critics of Montgomery who assert that he sometimes failed to attain the maximum must at least admit that he never once sustained a major defeat. In this particular instance I went over all details carefully, both with Montgomery and with Alexander. I believed then, and believe now, that a headlong attack against the Mount Etna position, with the resources available in the middle of July, would have been defeated. And it is well to remember that caution and timidity are not synonymous, just as boldness and rashness are not!"

"Field Marshal Montgomery, like General Patton, conformed to no type. He deliberately pursued certain eccentricities of behavior, one of which was to separate himself habitually from his staff. He lived in a trailer, surrounded by a few aides. This created difficulties in the staff work that must be performed in timely and effective fashion if any battle is to result in victory. He consistently refused to deal with a staff officer from any headquarters other than his own and, in argument, was persistent up to the point of decision."

"Montgomery was always a master in the methodical preparation of forces for a formal, set-piece attack."

"Much has been written about the remarkable effect Montgomery had on the troops, his appearance in peculiar hats, and so on. This was superficial. We judged him on results and his manner of achievement. Many of the troops never saw him: our first encounter was months later at Tripoli. Yet the signs of a new grip on affairs was palpable, as Churchill noticed. There was the first of those special messages to the troops. These were printed on sheets, some 11 inches by 8 inches, and were widely circulated. The first gave the gist of the famous address to the staff. We were going to fight where we stood. There would be no withdrawal, no surrender. We had to do our duty so long as we had breath in our bodies."

"I thought he (Montgomery) was very cautious, considering his immensely superior strength, but he is the only Field-Marshal in this war who won all his battles. In modern mobile warfare the tactics are not the main thing. The decisive factor is the organization of one's resources to maintain the momentum."

"Montgomery is a first-class trainer and leader of troops on the battlefield, with a fine tactical sense. He knows how to win the loyalty of his men and has a great flair for raising morale. He rightly boasted that, after the battle of Alamein, he never suffered a defeat; and the truth is that he never intended to run the risk of a defeat; that is one reason why he was cautious and reluctant to take chances. There is, however, much to be said for his attitude when we consider that, up to October 1942, we had not won a single major battle since the start of the war - except Archie Wavell's operations against the Italians and some local victories against the Axis forces in the Western Desert. Yet I can't disguise that he was not an easy man to deal with; for example, administrative orders issued by my staff were sometimes objected to - in other words Monty wanted to have complete independence of command and to do what he liked. Still, no serious difficulties arose over these very minor disturbances, he was always reasonable when tackled."

"I cannot, of course, commit myself to any particular details. Reports are coming in in rapid succession. So far the Commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place. It involves tides, wind, waves, visibility, both from the air and the sea standpoint, and the combined employment of land, air and sea forces in the highest degree of intimacy and in contact with conditions which could not and cannot be fully foreseen. There are already hopes that actual tactical surprise has been attained, and we hope to furnish the enemy with a succession of surprises during the course of the fighting. The battle that has now begun will grow constantly in scale and in intensity for many weeks to come, and I shall not attempt to speculate upon its course. This I may say, however. Complete unity prevails throughout the Allied Armies. There is a brotherhood in arms between us and our friends of the United States. There is complete confidence in the supreme commander, General Eisenhower, and his lieutenants, and also in the commander of the Expeditionary Force, General Montgomery. The ardour and spirit of the troops, as I saw myself, embarking in these last few days was splendid to witness. Nothing that equipment, science or forethought could do has been neglected, and the whole process of opening this great new front will be pursued with the utmost resolution both by the commanders and by the United States and British Governments whom they serve."

"In defeat, unbeatable; in victory, unbearable."

"Montgomery's problem was twofold. First, he had an inflated opinion of himself (even more than Patton's). Churchill later said that in defeat, Montgomery was unbeatable, but in victory, he became unbearable. Second, his verbal daring was not matched by his methods. As at El Alamein, he seldom commenced an offensive unless he had overwhelming superiority and could not fail. Marketgarden was the exception, and the failure stung him badly. Moreover, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Field Marshal Alan Brooke, had minimum admiration for Eisenhower and kept feeding his angst privately to Montgomery. Warren Harding once said that his enemies were no problem, he could take care of them: "It's my goddamn friends that keep me awake at nights.""

"King greatly enjoyed a luncheon with Mr. Churchill, who had invited him to meet Field Marshal Montgomery, whom he had not previously known. King felt that what Montgomery said made very good sense, and noted that he was not only very firm in all matters of military business, but equally firm in his personal disinclination to either smoke or drink. It is true that his beret was somewhat dramatic, but hardly more so than MacArthur's gold embroidered cap and corncob pipe or Patton's two pearl-handled pistols. Within the United States Navy, Halsey and King's old friend Jonas Ingram could hardly have been considered restrained in their style. Although King's own taste did not run to such personal exuberance, he was not necessarily surprised to find it in military commanders whose chiefs were as colorful as President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill."

"'Monty' was the victor of the Alamein campaign which turned the tide in North Africa; he was enormously popular with the troops under his command and with the British public. Three years older than Eisenhower, his military career was fuller. The son of a clergyman, he followed a conventional path from public school to the British army academy at Sandhurst. In 1914 he was a lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He saw fierce fighting on the Western front, was severely wounded, returned to the front and ended the war as a divisional chief-of-staff with the rank of major; two years later he saw combat again, against Sinn Fein in the struggle for Irish independence. Between the wars he was a successful staff officer; when war broke out again he was a major-general. As with Eisenhower, real responsibility came only in 1942 when Churchill chose him to take over the 8th Army in Egypt and turn back the Axis armies advancing on Suez. He was a good organizer and a careful strategist. His bloody baptism of fire in 1914 taught him not to gamble with the lives of his men. He suffered fools not at all, and had little respect for rank and distinction. He believed that officers should get close to their men, but with fellow commanders he could be prickly and arrogant. He possessed a strong self-belief which he communicated to those below him, but it was a quality that made him intolerant of allies and colleagues where Eisenhower was a model of appeasement. The eventual success of their awkward partnership owed more to Eisenhower's self-restraint than it did to any diffidence on the part of Montgomery."

"It is not surprising, however, that American generals found the British system irksome, especially as applied by Montgomery. To them his methods were the more objectionable because he was so clearly born to command and, even in his most tactful moments, he exercised his authority almost as a matter of right. Moreover, he was not as other men. He shunned the company of women; he did not smoke or drink or play poker with 'the boys.' He could never be 'slapped on the back.' Because he lived in a small tactical H.Q. with a few aides and liaison officers, he was looked upon as setting himself apart from (and therefore above) his fellow soldiers. This impression seemed to be confirmed by his practice, resented as much by other British services as it was by the Americans, of sending his Chief of Staff, de Guingand, to represent him at conferences."

"Unquestionably there was a marked element of professional vanity in Montgomery's make-up. He was not a man of snap judgments, but once he had made up his mind, he gave the impression of supreme confidence in the righteousness of his decision, and was frequently dogmatic in expounding his views because he had no time for cant, humbug or pomposity. The appearance of conceit was emphasized by his disregard for social graces when he was preoccupied with operations, but he was not so austere, aloof and unfriendly as many Americans thought. He was on closer and easier terms with his own troops than was any other British commander of his day, and he received unbounded loyalty from them. He was most approachable and informal with those who had operational reasons for seeing him and he freely sought advice in private discussion, but as he once said to de Guingand, "You can't run a military operation with a committee of staff officers in command. It will be nonsense!""

"When Montgomery held a conference of his senior commanders and advisers, it was to 'tell them the form' or to give out orders; not to collect ideas. In expounding a plan at this level, the clarity, the directness and simplicity of his presentation was most convincing, but on other occasions he frequently gave the impression that he was 'talking down' to his audience This was the result of his habit of presenting every problem in the simplest terms with the deliberate intention of inspiring confidence in his solution by making it easier to accomplish. De Guingand writes: "When tackling a problem... [Montgomery] cuts away all the frills and gets down to those factors that really matter. He simplifies everything to an extent I have not met elsewhere. Some say he over-simplifies- to some extent this is true, but the resultant dividend is enormous." Within the British Army this was certainly the case, but to many Americans who had come into direct personal contact with him all this simplification seemed to be so much condescension."

"The plan which Montgomery presented to Eisenhower at their meeting on August 23rd was bold enough, but it meant halting Patton and confining the Third Army to the defensive role of flank protection during the advance of the Second British and First American Armies to the Ruhr. Eisenhower's first reaction was that, even if it was militarily desirable (which he did admit), it was politically impossible to stop Patton in full cry. "The American public," said Eisenhower, "would never stand for it; and public opinion wins war." To which Montgomery replied, "Victories win wars. Give people victory and they won't care who won it.""

"Montgomery may have been right so far as the British public were concerned, but Eisenhower knew that his troops in the field and his people at home would see the issue in simple terms, almost in terms of American football. Patton was 'carrying the ball,' and was making an 'end run' with every American cheering him on. As Eisenhower saw it, there was no justification- in football or in battle- for taking the ball away from him. Patton had already proved himself to be a master of exploitation and his troops were already across the Seine. Montgomery had no such reputation and his troops had not yet reached the Seine. Neither the British nor the Canadians had yet shown a capacity for advancing with the dash and drive the Americans had demonstrated so brilliantly since the break-out. It is not surprising, therefore, that Eisenhower would have doubted at this stage whether Montgomery had the troops or the commanders to carry the northward thrust through to the Ruhr before the Germans could establish a coherent front."

"At the ceremony of signing the decoration I met Field-Marshal Montgomery for the first time. During the war I had closely followed the actions of British troops under his command. In 1940 the British Expeditionary Corps had sustained a disastrous setback at Dunkirk. Later, British troops under Montgomery's command had smashed the German corps under General Rommel at El Alamein. During the Normandy landing Montgomery had ably commanded the Allied forces and their advance to the banks of the Seine. Montgomery was above medium height, very agile, soldierly, trim and created an impression of a lively and intelligent man. He began to talk about the operations at El Alamein and at Stalingrad. In his view the two operations were of equal significance. I did not want to belittle the merits of the British troops, but still I had to explain to him that the El Alamein operation was carried out on an army scale, while at Stalingrad the operation engaged a group of fronts and it had a vast strategic importance- it resulted in the rout of a major enemy force in the area of the Volga and Don rivers and later, in the North Caucasus. It was an operation that actually marked a radical turning-point in the war and ensured the retreat of the German forces from our country."

"You've been pretty unlucky with the weather, Mr Piper."

"In order that they should be worthily and promptly recognised, I have decided to create, at once, a new mark of honour for men and women in all walks of civilian life. I propose to give my name to this new distinction, which will consist of the George Cross, which will rank next to the Victoria Cross, and the George Medal for wider distribution."

"We are not a family, we are a firm."

"The highest of distinctions is service to others."

"King George VI was always remarkably well informed, and I made a point of reading the latest telegrams before my weekly audience with him. A conscientious, constitutional monarch is a strong element of stability and continuity in our Constitution."

"The children won't go without me. I won't leave the King. And the King will never leave."

"During his stay in London King was presented to King George VI at Buckingham Palace. His Majesty, wearing the uniform of an admiral of the fleet, received King in a sitting room where he was at work on papers. Whiskey or tea was offered, and as King had given up spirits for the duration of the war, he gladly accepted the tea, which was ready. The King reminisced agreeably about his cruises in the Royal Navy, and asked the admiral about his own with such tact that the audience, in retrospect, resembled a chat between a couple of old sailors."

"All men are brothered in Jesus Christ."

"Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin."

"God did not create a human family made up of segregated, dissociated, mutually independent members. No; he would have them all united by the bond of total love of Him and consequent self-dedication to assisting each other to maintain that bond intact."

"True science discovers God in an ever-increasing degree — as though God were waiting behind every door opened by science."

"Besides, every human being, even the child in the womb, has the right to life directly from God and not from his parents, not from any society or human authority. Therefore, there is no man, no human authority, no science, no "indication" at all—whether it be medical, eugenic, social, economic, or moral—that may offer or give a valid judicial title for a direct deliberate disposal of an innocent human life, that is, a disposal which aims at its destruction, whether as an end in itself or as a means to achieve the end, perhaps in no way at all illicit. Thus, for example, to save the life of the mother is a very noble act; but the direct killing of the child as a means to such an end is illicit. The direct destruction of so-called "useless lives," already born or still in the womb, practiced extensively a few years ago, can in no wise be justified. Therefore, when this practice was initiated, the Church expressly declared that it was against the natural law and the divine positive law, and consequently that it was unlawful to kill, even by order of the public authorities, those who were innocent, even if on account of some physical or mental defect, they were useless to the State and a burden upon it. The life of an innocent person is sacrosanct, and any direct attempt or aggression against it is a violation of one of the fundamental laws without which secure human society is impossible. We have no need to teach you in detail the meaning and the gravity, in your profession, of this fundamental law. But never forget this: there rises above every human law and above every "indication" the faultless law of God."

"Caution must be used when there is rather question of hypotheses, having some sort of scientific foundation, in which the doctrine contained in Sacred Scripture or in Tradition is involved. If such conjectural opinions are directly or indirectly opposed to the doctrine revealed by God, then the demand that they be recognized can in no way be admitted."

"In Rome, the Pope again deplored the bombing of civilian populations, but he was naïve- civilians are military objectives in our time."

"Yet, if the Roman Catholic Church pursues its plans to canonize Pope Pius XII, it will be more damaging to its reputation than another huge explosion of pedophile priest scandals. For even child molestation – evil and sinister as it is – remains a step below complicity in the extermination of millions of people and ordering mass kidnapping, two great sins among many by which Pius XII disgraced himself."

"The Church and the papacy have saved Jews as much and in as far as they could save Christians.... Six million of my co-religionists have been murdered by the Nazis, but there could have been many more victims, had it not been for the efficacious intervention of Pius XII."

"With an unequalled cynicism the Vatican "suada" (art or way of persuasion) refers to a few Catholics who took a firm stand against the fascistic atrocities -- and omits the fact that the Pope and his bishops did not support these courageous priests at all."

"[Pope Pius XII was of] superior intelligence; the richness and acuity of his ideas; the precision in their expression - which he took care of down to the tiniest detail, even in many foreign languages, principally in the German language in which he was a master; his holiness of life; his profound and almost painful concern for the fate of the Church and the world community; his untiring capacity for work."

"Have you seen a photo of Pius XII? In a James Bond movie, he'd have been the head of SPECTRE."

"The people of Israel will never forget what His Holiness and his illustrious delegates, inspired by the eternal principles of religion, which form the very foundation of true civilization, are doing for our unfortunate brothers and sisters in the most tragic hour of our history, which is living proof of Divine Providence in this world."

"The repeated interventions of the Holy Father on behalf of Jewish Communities in Europe has evoked the profoundest sentiments of appreciation and gratitude from Jews throughout the world."

"In the most difficult hours of which we Jews of Romania have passed through, the generous assistance of the Holy See…was decisive and salutary. It is not easy for us to find the right words to express the warmth and consolation we experienced because of the concern of the supreme pontiff, who offered a large sum to relieve the sufferings of deported Jews…. The Jews of Romania will never forget these facts of historic importance."

"Those of us who were foreign correspondents in Berlin during the days of the Weimar Republic were not unfamiliar with the figure of the dean of the diplomatic corps. Tall, slender, with magnificent eyes, strong features and expressive hands, in his appearance and bearing Archbishop Pacelli looked every inch what he was - a Roman nobleman, of the proudest blood of the western world. In knowledge of German and European affairs and in diplomatic astuteness the Nuncio was without an equal."

"More than anyone else, we have had the opportunity to appreciate the great kindness, filled with compassion and magnanimity, that the Pope displayed during the terrible years of persecution and terror when it seemed that for us there was no longer an escape."

"We share in the grief of humanity at the passing away of His Holiness Pope Pius XII. In a generation affected by wars and discords, he upheld the highest ideals of peace and compassion. When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the Pope was raised for the victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out on the great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace."

"If the pope had spoken out, Hitler would probably have massacred more than six million Jews and perhaps ten times ten million Catholics, if he had the power to do so."

"With special gratitude we remember all he has done for the persecuted Jews during one of the darkest periods in their entire history."

"In relation to the insane behavior of the Nazis, from overlords to self-styled cogs like Eichmann, he [Pius XII] did everything humanly possible to save lives and alleviate suffering among the Jews; that a formal statement would have provoked the Nazis to brutal retaliation, and would substantially have thwarted further Catholic action on behalf of Jews."

"The papal nuncio and the bishops intervened again and again on the instructions of the pope, and that as a result of these labors in the autumn and winter of 1944, there was practically no Catholic Church institution in Budapest where persecuted Jews did not find refuge."

"Pius XI had good reason to make Pacelli (the future Pius XII) the architect of his anti-Nazi policy. Of the forty-four speeches which the Nuncio Pacelli had made on German soil between 1917 and 1929, at least forty contained attacks on Nazism or condemnations of Hitler’s doctrines. Pacelli, who never met the Führer, called it ‘neo-Paganism.’"

"The Catholic Church, under the pontificate of Pope Pius XII was instrumental in saving at least 700,000, but probably as many as 860,000, Jews from certain death at Nazi hands."

"No Pope in history has been thanked more heartily by Jews. Upon his death in 1958, several suggested in open letters that a Pope Pius XII forest of 860,000 trees be planted on the hills of Judea in order to fittingly honor the memory of the late Pontiff because the Catholic Church under the pontificate of Pius XII was instrumental in saving the lives of as many as 860,000 Jews from certain death at Nazi hands."

"I told [Pope Pius XII] that my first duty was to thank him, and through him the Catholic Church, on behalf of the Jewish public for all they had done in the various countries to rescue Jews…. We are deeply grateful to the Catholic Church."

"In continuance of the exchanges of views undertaken from time to time since their beginning, on December 23, 1939, for the purpose of facilitating parallel endeavors for peace and the alleviation of human suffering, I am requesting Mr. Taylor to return to Rome and to resume audiences with Your Holiness at such times as may be found appropriate. These exchanges have already contributed profoundly toward a sound and lasting peace and to the strengthening of the impelling convictions pursued by the peoples of the world in their quest for a moral world order firmly established in the life of nations."

"As the chosen leader of the people of the United States I am privileged to pledge full faith to you once again to work with Your Holiness and with every agency of good the world over for an enduring peace. An enduring peace can be built only upon Christian principles. To such a consummation we dedicate all our resources, both spiritual and material, remembering always that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it."

"Pius XII did not make his protest heard when the Roman Jews were carried away right under his nose."

"Hitler distrusted the Holy See because it hid Jews. The Germans considered the Pope as an enemy."

"My judgment cannot but be positive. Pope Pacelli was the only one who intervened to impede the deportation of Jews on 16 October 1943, and he did very much to hide and save thousands of us. It was no small matter that he ordered the opening of cloistered convents. Without him, many of our own would not be alive."

"The Talmud teaches that 'whosoever preserves one life, it is accounted to him by Scripture as if he had preserved a whole world.' More than any other twentieth-century leader, Pius XII fulfilled this Talmudic dictum, when the fate of European Jewry was at stake. No other pope had been so widely praised by Jews — and they were not mistaken. Their gratitude, as well as that of the entire generation of Holocaust survivors, testifies that Pius XII was, genuinely and profoundly, a righteous gentile."

"Never, in those tragic days, could I have foreseen, even in my wildest imaginings, that the man who, more than any other, had tried to alleviate human suffering, had spent himself day by day in his unceasing efforts for peace, would - twenty years later - be made the scapegoat for men trying to free themselves from their own responsibilities and from the collective guilt that obviously weights so heavily upon them."

"During the Nazi occupation of Rome, three thousand Jews found refuge at one time at the pope’s summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. Amazingly, Castel Gandolfo is never mentioned or discussed in the anti-papal writings of many of the pope’s critics. Yet at no other site in Nazi-occupied Europe were as many Jews saved and sheltered for as long a period as at Castel Gandolfo during the Nazi occupation of Rome. Kosher food was provided for the Jews hidden there, where, as George Weigel has noted, Jewish children were born in the private apartments of Pius XII, which became a temporary obstetrical ward."

"No rebuke has come to Nazism from Pope Pius XI and his successor, Pope Pius XII."

"I simply cannot understand the failure of the Pope speak out."

"Even though the 'Final Solution' was a Nazi invention, not a Church one, the Pontiff who headed the Roman Catholic Church during the Holocaust period, Pius XII, did nothing to either condemn it or protest against it; his standing by while blood was being shed deserves full condemnation, on behalf of future generations as well. At Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, there is an avenue on which every tree is dedicated to the memory of a Righteous Gentile. Had Pius XII fulfilled his basic duty, this avenue would be much longer and the lives of many more Jews would have been saved during those horrible days."

"In a sense, it's an indictment of the dual standard of morality practiced by Pius XII. They (the Vatican) have no hesitation in properly charging the Soviets with atrocities but tragically failed to do so when it came to the murder of the Jews in the Holocaust."

"The facts are that Pius XII was the best informed leader on what was happening in Europe during the Holocaust. Yet unlike many priests and bishops who risked their lives and showed great courage in defying Hitler, the Pope sat in stony silence as millions of Jews were murdered in the death camps."

"Over time I have become convinced that during World War II Pope Pius XII and the vast majority of European Christian leaders regarded the elimination of the Jews as no less beneficial than the destruction of Bolshevism."

"We can't help but notice that under Cardinal Ratzinger's tutelage, the Church began moves to elevate the infamous Pope Pius XII to the status of saint. Instead of repenting for the failure of the Church to give unequivocal messages telling all Catholics that they would be prevented from receiving communion for collaborating or cooperating in any way with Nazi rule, or for failing to hide and protect Jews who were marked for extermination, Ratzinger has sought to whitewash this disgraceful moment in Church history."

"In [a] quest for Pacelli, clues begin to accumulate, even in his early life: a devout, pious family, highly professional and respected, yet relatively impoverished; strong and abiding Church links; a desire to restore a dispossessed Vatican to its rightful place in the world; continuing insider influence on the young Eugenio's behalf;[-] a strong dependence on a mother figure; [-] and finally, the use of the Pacelli's special interest in canon law to solve the Vatican's problems of dispossession by creating a new and all-encompassing Church order. [-] He emerges as an intellectually brilliant but psychologically fragile vessel, confronting ruthlessly powerful men, devoid of any scruple whatsoever, at the darkest hour in history."

"I came back from Auschwitz on my own. I lost my mother, two sisters and one brother. Pius XII could have warned us about what was going to happen. We might have escaped from Rome and joined the partisans. He played right into the Germans' hands. It all happened right under his nose. But he was an anti-Semitic pope, a pro-German pope. He didn't take a single risk. And when they say the Pope is like Jesus Christ, it is not true. He did not save a single child."

"Liked the man from Rome well enough as a human being. But this was war. Let the British and French answer for it."

"What the Vatican did will be indelibly and eternally engraved in our hearts. Priests and even high prelates did things that will forever be an honor to Catholicism."

"The Department has noted with considerable apprehension increasing propaganda rumors and semi-official statements in favor of an autonomous Macedonia emanating from Bulgaria, but also from Yugoslav partisan and other sources with the implication that Greek territory would be included in the projected State. This Government considers talk of "Macedonian Nation", "Macedonian Fatherland", or "Macedonian National Consciousness" to be unjustified demagoguery representing no ethnic or political reality, and sees in its present revival a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece."

"Since the outbreak of war, Australians have been asked to join the armed forces and to make heavy sacrifices in many other ways for the preservation of freedom and democracy. The response by the people of Australia has been magnificent. But the words ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ must be more than a slogan. They must represent real and living things in the lives of ordinary men and women."

"There must be no hesitation to assume control of the means of production where that is essential in the public interest. In the economic life of the nation, no private interest can be allowed to stand against the welfare of the majority. Irrational privileges which disfigure our present order should be abolished. Economic freedom must be made real by giving security and a rising standard of living to all who, by their labour, make civilised life possible. We must substitute co-operation for competition and public service for private profit."

"Let us hope that the war in which Australia, in common with the rest of the Empire, is engaged will elevate the conscience of our nation to new and nobler purposes."

"The Labor Party has no objection whatever to the Germans practicing nazi-ism in Germany; that is their concern. We do not engage in any philisophic discussions with them about that system so long as they make no endeavour to foist it by force upon people outside their country. We stand for self-government. In the same way, we offer no opinions regarding the justification or non-justification of bolshevism in Russia; that is the concern of the Russian people. Their form of government is their own affair, just as our form of government is our affair. The Labor Party believes in the right of peoples to govern themselves, and to enjoy a way of life which they themselves decide upon. We concede that right to Russia. We concede that right to Germany, and it is because we are claiming it for ourselves, and Germany denies it to us, that we are at war with Germany."

"The Australian Government, therefore, regards the Pacific struggle as primarily one in which the United States and Australia must have the fullest say in the direction of the democracies' fighting plan. Without any inhibitions of any kind, I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom."

"This country shall remain forever the home of the descendants of those people who came here in peace in order to establish in the South Seas an outpost of the British race."

"Be assured of the calibre of our national character. This war may see the end of much that we have painfully and slowly built in our 150 years of existence. But even though all of it go, there will still be Australians fighting on Australian soil until the turning point be reached, and we will advance over blackened ruins, through blasted and fire-swepted cities, across scorched plains, until we drive the enemy into the sea. I give you the pledge of my country. There will always be an Australian Government and there will always be an Australian people. We are too strong in our hearts; our spirit is too high; the justice of our cause throbs too deeply in our being for that high purpose to be overcome."

"At that time I believed in the Führer principle because to me it meant that the best one should be the leader. If the leader is good and responsible, then the government is good."

"Ach! I know. If I were to play the Pathetique or the Moonlight Sonata for the high judges, they would let me off. But my defense unfortunately will not be musical."

"But ignorance of the law is no excuse. A person is guilty even if he breaks the law unknowingly. I shall be perhaps the first of the defendants to get up on that stand and admit that I am at least partly guilty."

"I can spot a musical type. I can tell by looking at a woman whether she is a contralto or a soprano."

"I do feel ashamed of having participated to the slightest even as a tool in those dark days. But I was obliged to serve the state to which I had taken an oath. It was a tragic fate."

"I am guilty of one thing - that I should have cleared out and not had anything to do with these criminals in the first place. Later it was too late. I was in up to my neck. But as for the atrocities, I had not a thing to do with them, did not know about them. And as for conspiring against peace, that is false, too. And that is my plain line of defense."

"Those Russians. They did worse things when they entered Pomerania than we ever did in Russia."

"If you follow a certain road for some time, it takes an enormous willpower to leave, although you might recognize that the road was not good. But in my case I believed and was convinced that I was serving and helping the people until the last. However, it is a terrible fate that has befallen me. If I had remained with my writing and my music I would be working now and not a criminal in the Nuremburg prison."

"In world history we have other examples of frightful destruction. There was Alexander the Great and all of the destruction he caused. Napoleon, too, would have destroyed all of Europe. But unfortunately, the Nazi government, the government of which I unfortunately partook, had no Talleyrand, but we had a Ribbentrop. Through Talleyrand's policy France was saved from a catastrophe that Ribbentrop would have brought about."

"Funk succeeded me and he could not act individually as I could and did. The Reichsbank could give or deny credit under the rules at its own discretion while I was president of it. The very day I left the Reichsbank, Hitler issued a law which obliged the Reichsbank to give any credit he would ask for. It was under that law that Funk took office. Perhaps in that sense Funk was not responsible, but in another sense, of course, he was responsible because he was a willing tool. If he went so far as to take the post, he was willing to obey."

"A Reichsbank president who was totally ignorant of what went in and out of the vaults of his bank."

"As Minister of Economics, Funk accelerated the pace of rearmament and as Reichsbank president banked for the SS the gold teeth fillings of concentration camp victims, probably the most ghoulish collateral in banking history."

"Our defeat at Leyte was tantamount to the loss of the Philippines. When you [the Allies] took the Philippines, that was the end of our resources."

"There is no chance whatsoever of victory; therefore I agree with the foreign minister that the Potsdam declaration should be accepted at once, with only that one condition about retaining the Emperor."

"History shows that whenever an emergency arises, our national spirit is most emphatically manifested to advance the prestige and fortune of the nation. It is incumbent upon us to leave no stone unturned in order to promote loyalty and bravery on the home front as well, and to replenish and demonstrate our nation's powers, for which are required the inculcation of the spirit of reverence for deities and respect for ancestors, the renovation of national education and the of the people's physical strength."

"We might win the first battle for Japan, but we won't win the second. The war is lost to us. Therefore we must forget about 'face,' we must surrender as quickly as we can, and we must begin to consider at once how best to preserve our country."

"It may be inappropriate to put it in this way, but the atomic bombs and the Soviet entry into the war are, in a sense, God's gifts. Now we can end the war without making it clear that we have to end the war because of the domestic situation. I have long been advocating the conclusion [of the war], not because I am afraid of the enemy's attacks or because of the atomic bombs or the Soviet participation in the war; The most important reason is my concern over the domestic situation."

"Japan is fully prepared to take appropriate steps in event that the United States continues its oppression."

"No one ever thought that 140,000,000 Americans would become the hands of the Jews....How would the Americans dare to Judaize Palestine while the Arabs are still alive?...The wicked American intentions toward the Arabs are now clear, and there remain no doubts that they are endeavoring to establish a Jewish empire in the Arab world. More than 400,000,000 Arabs [?] oppose this criminal American movement.... Arabs! Rise as one and fight for your sacred rights. Kill the Jews wherever you find them. This pleases God, history, and religion. This saves your honor. God is with you."

"For us Muslims, it is unworthy to utter the word Islam in the same breath with Judaism since Islam stands high over its perfidious adversary."

"The Arabs have a particular understanding for introducing forceful measures against Jews in Germany and for their expulsion from the country. After the [First] World War, England and America enabled the Jews to settle in Palestine and to establish a Jewish state there. Jewish excrement from all countries assembled there, rascally striving to seize the land from Arabs. And indeed, they succeeded in buying land from the poorest of the poor and from unscrupulous landlords. By doing so, they took poor widows' bread and stole food from children to fatten themselves. When the Arabs opposed the Jewish settlement, the Jews did not shun bloody murders. So they robbed many families of their livelihood and threw the families into misery and troubles. (God will punish them for those disgraceful deeds)."

"The Jewish struggle against Arabs is nothing new for us, except that as time passed, the location of the battlefield changed. Jews hate Muhammad and Islam, and they hate any man who wishes to advance the prosperity of his people and to fight against Jewish lust for possessions and Jewish corruption. We, the Muslims, must always bear in mind the Khaibar feast. If the Jews betrayed Muhammad in such a way, why wouldn't they treacherously persecute us today with the purpose of destroying us?!"

"Husseini is still regarded by many as 'the George Washington' of the Palestinian people, and if the Palestinians were to get a state of their own, he would be honored in the way our founding father is."

"Hajj Amin el-Husseini, ex-mufti of Jerusalem, and Muslim jihadist, who became, additionally, a full-fledged Nazi collaborator and ideologue in his endeavors to abort a Jewish homeland and destroy world Jewry, was also a committed supporter of global jihad movements. Urging a “full struggle” against the Hindus of India (as well as the Jews of Israel) before delegates at the February 1951 World Muslim Congress, he stated: "We shall meet next with sword in hand on the soil of either Kashmir or Palestine.""

"With every passing month after Stalingrad, the criteria for Waffen-SS membership grew more elastic, forcing Himmler to cite the multinational structure of the old Habsburg army as a precedent. Ukrainians were recruited; so were Hungarians, Bulgarians and Serbs. In February 1943 the first of three divisions was formed of Bosnian and Albanian Muslims, who wore fezes decorated with SS runes and were led in their prayers by regimental imams notionally under the supervision of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. Out of all forty-seven Waffen-SS divisions, twenty were formed wholly or partly out of non-German recruits or conscripts and a further five out of Volksdeutsche. Towards the end of the war, in fact, there were more non-Germans than Germans serving in Himmler's army."

"Hitler didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time [of the meeting between the mufti and the Nazi leader]. He wanted to expel the Jews... And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said, "If you expel them, they'll all come here [to mandatory Palestine],"... "So what should I do with them?" He [Hitler] asked. He [Husseini] said, "Burn them.""

"It is true, and I am proud of it, that I once said, “I would rather have a government run like hell by Filipinos than a government run like heaven by Americans.” I want to tell you that I have, in my life, made no other remark which went around the world but that. There had been no paper in the United States, including a village paper, which did not print that statement, and I also had seen it printed in many newspapers in Europe. I would rather have a government run like hell by Filipinos than a government run like heaven by any foreigner. I said that once; I say it again, and I will always say it as long as I live."

"My loyalty to my party ends where my loyalty to my country begins."

"The Latin American people believed and feel that we Filipinos form past of that vast family, the children of Spain. Thus, although Spain ceased to govern those countries many years ago and although another nation is sovereign in the Philippines, those Latin-American peoples feel themselves as brothers to the people of the Philippines. It is the Spanish language that still binds us to those peoples, and the Spanish language will bind us to those peoples eternally if we have the wisdom and patriotism of preserving it."

"As archived on Gov.ph (Accessed 2015)"

"...We bow to the closest Slav, brother Czech, to apply our sovereignty as a small nation together with him in the common state. We are ready to stand guard over its life and to lay all the sacrifices on its altar. (...) However, we should be aware that our sovereignty is applied within the scope defined by the common agreement, otherwise, we have to apply a principle: a nation is more than a state."

"People ask whether what is being done with the Jews is Christian. Is it human? Is it not robbery? ... I ask is it Christian when the nation wants to free itself from its eternal enemy—the Jew? ... Love of self is a command from God, and this love of self commands me to remove ... everything that damages me or that threatens my life. I don't think I need to convince anyone that the Jewish element threatened the lives of Slovaks. ... It would have looked even worse if we hadn't pulled ourselves together in time, if we hadn't purged them from us. And we did so according to divine command: Slovak, cast off your parasite."

"The question [now] is how long will [Tiso’s] political convictions and especially his conscience as a priest let him march hand in hand with the National Socialist masters. Naturally, he does not like to do it, but is only compelled by circumstances. He is convinced, or at least he hopes, that if he stays in power then he can protect what he can and that, in putting into effect National Socialist methods, it will not come to extreme consequences. Only later will it be possible to judge if he calculated correctly."

"Everyone understands that the Holy See cannot stop Hitler. But who can understand that it does not know how to rein in a priest?"

"It is interesting how this little Catholic priest—Tiso—is sending us the Jews!"

"What has made this whole process so special is that above all - especially in terms of the pace of change – it has been determined by the creative and spontaneous activity of the broad mass of the people, with the communists in the vanguard. In this spirit and in accord with the plenary session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, people have acted without the slightest manipulation and without being given commands from above. The role of the party is to recognize people’s understanding, to raise it to a higher plane, to support progressive thinking and acts."

"My problem was not having a crystal ball to foresee the Russian invasion. At no point between January and August 20, in fact, did I believe that it would happen."

"With the wall breached, everything was possible. On November 10th, Todor Zhivkov, Bulgaria's ruler since 1954, announced that he was stepping down; soon the Bulgarian Communist Party was negotiating with the opposition and promising free elections. On November 17th, demonstrations broke out in Prague and quickly spread throughout Czechoslovakia. Within weeks, a coalition government had ousted the communists, and by the end of the year Alexander Dubcek, who had presided over the 1968 "Prague spring," was installed as chairman of the national assembly, reporting to the new president of Czechoslovakia—Václav Havel."

"Dubcek, the bureaucrat with a pleasant smile, was a confusing blend of contradictions. He spent his entire career as the cog in a totalitarian machine and then, when he emerged on top, declared himself a democrat. He was a pragmatist and a dreamer. He could be a skilled maneuverer in the baroque labyrinth of communist politics. But in the end even he admitted that he could be incredibly naïve."

"Brutally attacked by Germany which had entered into the most solemn engagements with her, Belgium will defend herself with all of her strength against the invader. In these tragic hours which my country is undergoing, I am addressing myself to Your Excellency, who so often has demonstrated towards Belgium an affectionate interest, in the certainty that you will support with all of your moral authority the efforts which we are now firmly decided to make in order to preserve our independence."

"The Parliament's acceptance of such measures would enable me to temporarily entrust the exercise of my pregoratives to the Crown Prince and, in agreement with the Government, to end this task when I consider that the interests of the country are also served."

"On July 31, 1950, I accepted to hand over the royal powers to my son. It was my will to renounce the throne for good as soon as it turned out that all Belgians would have united themselves around Prince Baudouin. I now establish that this unanimity has been achieved. The last words I wish to say as king of the Belgians will strongly indicate that the future of the fatherland depends on your national solidarity, I swear to agree to you, God protect Belgium and our Congo."

"In view of the rapid changes taking place in the world today, it seemed to me desirable to preserve in picture and sound some reflection of the surviving vestiges of the ancient life of the Congo, there is a communion between the man of the forest and his natural surroundings which inspires us in a sense of respect a recognition of spiritual heritage, I thank all those who have helped me to achieve this task which combines beauty and scientific truth."

"Production is ensured by the native working no longer as an employee, but as a free peasant, owner of his land."

"That was the prospect a week ago. But another blow which might well have proved final was yet to fall upon us. The King of the Belgians had called upon us to come to his aid. Had not this Ruler and his Government severed themselves from the Allies, who rescued their country from extinction in the late war, and had they not sought refuge in what was proved to be a fatal neutrality, the French and British Armies might well at the outset have saved not only Belgium but perhaps even Poland. Yet at the last moment, when Belgium was already invaded, King Leopold called upon us to come to his aid, and even at the last moment we came. He and his brave, efficient Army, nearly half a million strong, guarded our left flank and thus kept open our only line of retreat to the sea. Suddenly, without prior consultation, with the least possible notice, without the advice of his Ministers and upon his own personal act, he sent a plenipotentiary to the German Command, surrendered his Army, and exposed our whole flank and means of retreat."

"The surrender of the Belgian Army compelled the British at the shortest notice to cover a flank to the sea more than 30 miles in length. Otherwise all would have been cut off, and all would have shared the fate to which King Leopold had condemned the finest Army his country had ever formed."

"I came to school in the United States, and I will always consider America my second home."

"On July 7, 1937, Japan launched an all-out war on China. Through the first four and one-half years of total aggression, China defended herself unaided and alone. Not until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, in December of 1941.. .did the U.S. and China become allies. The combined effort of our two countries laid a solid foundation for the final victory in 1945. In those years of blood and tears, let us remember the moral courage of the people of the United States and China fighting shoulder to shoulder."

"It has been said, and I find it true from personal experience, that it is easier to risk one's life on the battlefield than it is to perform customary humble and humdrum duties which, however, are just as necessary to winning the war."

"The second impression of my trip is that America is not only the cauldron of democracy but the incubator of democratic principles. At some of the places I visited, I met the crews of your air bases. There, I found first generation Germans, Italians, Frenchmen, Poles, Czechoslovakians, and other nationals. Some of them had accents so thick, that if such a thing were possible, one could not cut them with a butter knife. But there they were, all Americans, all devoted to the same ideals, all working for the same cause, and united by the same high purpose. No suspicion or rivalry existed between them. This increased my belief and faith that devotion to common principles eliminates differences in race and that identity of ideals is the strongest possible solvent of racial dissimilarities."

"I have reached your country, therefore, with no misgivings, but with my belief that the American people are building and carrying out a true pattern of the nation conceived by your forebears, strengthened and confirmed."

"Again, now the prevailing opinion seems to consider the defeat of the Japanese as of relative unimportance and that Hitler is our first concern. This is not borne out by actual facts, nor is it to the interests of the United Nations as a whole to allow Japan to continue, not only as a vital potential threat but as a waiting sword of Damocles, ready -- but as a waiting sword of Damocles ready to des[cend] at a moment's notice."

"We of this generation who are privileged to help make a better world for ourselves and for posterity should remember that, while we must not be visionary, we must have vision so that peace should not be punitive in spirit and should not be provincial or nationalistic or even continental in concept, but universal in scope and -- and humanitarian in action, for modern science has so annihilated distance that what affects one people must of necessity affect all other peoples."

"We in China, like you, want a better world, not for ourselves alone, but for all mankind, and we must have it. It is not enough, however, to proclaim our idea[l]s or even to be convinced that we have them. In order to preserve, uphold, and maintain them, there are times when we should throw all we cherish into our effort to fulfill these ideals even at the risk of failure."

"We must have the vision so that peace should not be punitive in spirit and should not be provincial or nationalistic or even continental in concept; but universal in scope and humanitarian in action, for modern science has so annihilated distance that what affects one people must of necessity affect all others."

"The teachings drawn from our late leader, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, have given our people the fortitude to carry on. From five and a half years of experience, we in China are convinced that it is the better part of wisdom not to accept failure ignominiously, but to risk it gloriously."

"We shall have faith, that, at the writing of peace, America and our other gallant Allies will not be obtunded by the mirage of contingent reasons of expediency."

"Man's mettle is tested both in adversity and in success. Twice is this true of the soul of a nation."

"We in China, though we have been harried for years by death and destruction, have been giving careful thought toward the perfection of a political and social system that will ensure in the future the greatest good for the greatest number."

"We have chosen the path that we shall tread in the future. We are determined that there shall be no more exploitation of China. I have no wish to harp on old grievances, but realism demands that I should mention the ruthless and shameless exploitation of our country by the West in the past and hard-dying illusion that the best way to win our hearts was to kick us in the ribs. Such asinine stupidities must never be repeated, as much for your own sake as for ours. America and Britain have already shown their consciousness of error by voluntarily offering to abrogate the iniquitous system of extraterritoriality that denied China her inherent right to equality with other nations."

"While as a nation we are resolved that we will not tolerate foreign exploitation we are equally determined that within our country there be no exploitation of any section of society by any other section or even by the state itself. The possession of wealth does not confer upon the wealthy the right to take unfair advantage of the less fortunate."

"We are striving to institute a flexible system of political and economic development that will serve the future as well as the present. This attempt started directly China became a republic, thirty-one years ago, and has continued even throughout the war years. In order to give our people fuller and better opportunities for a well-rounded and happier life, a new kind of Chinese socialism, based on democratic principles, is evolving."

"I have already referred to Chinese socialism, for our political compass shows our ship of state ploughing in that direction. Nevertheless, some people are alarmed at the very word ‘socialism,’ much as a timid horse shies away from its own shadow. Actually, though not called by that name, socialism has influenced national thought in China for decades, even amid the confusion caused by civil unrest and the present war. But it does not have any affiliation with communism. The Chinese do not accept the much-mooted theory of enriching the poor by dispossessing present owners of their wealth, nor do they believe such a step would give any prospect of an enduring alleviation of poverty and human misery."

"Chinese socialism, if you like to call it that, seeks above all else to preserve the birthrights of the individual. No state can be great and prosperous unless the people are contented."

"One of our national characteristics is not to do things without careful deliberation. Those who are privileged to direct the aspirations of a quarter of the world’s population have a wonderful opportunity but a fearful responsibility."

"Considering what China has already accomplished in the face of heartbreaking obstacles, we confront the future with calmness and confidence. The difficulties before us are stupendous; but with the help, from our sister democracies, of technique and capital, which we have proved we deserve, we have no doubt we can solve our problems."

"But, for a time in the early 1940s, she had been the most powerful woman on earth, and could dream of ruling the world with an American consort."

"She can talk beautifully about democracy, but does not know how to live democracy."

"The formidable wife of Nationalist China's leader, she fought her own corner as ruthlessly as she defended his."

"After Chiang died, Mei-ling's move to Long Island was barely reported. By the 1990s, many believed she must have died. She refused Beijing's invitation to attend the funeral of her sister Ching-ling in 1981, though when Ching-kuo died in 1988, she became briefly involved in an effort to prevent the Taiwan-born Li Teng-hui from succeeding him. It was soon announced, however, that, though she still had a "strong will", she would no longer "intervene in state affairs." Finally, Soong Mei-ling had lost the art for intrigue and the zest for power that sustained for so long her formidable role as Nationalist China's Dragon Lady."

"I now feel very ashamed of my testimony, as I withheld some of what I knew to protect myself from being punished by my country. I said nothing about my secret collaboration with the Japanese imperialists over a long period, an association to which my open capitulation after September 18, 1931 was but the conclusion. Instead, I spoke only of the way the Japanese had put pressure on me and forced me to do their will. I maintained that I had not betrayed my country but had been kidnapped; denied all my collaboration with the Japanese; and even claimed that the letter I had written to Jirō Minami was a fake. I covered up my crimes in order to protect myself."

"You should not be serving me. I should be serving you."

"Advice can never take the place of experience. That which advice can sometimes do is to make experience more fruitful of good; to help us the better to understand the lessons of life; and when those lessons are sharp and unwelcome, to bear them with an even and unruffled mind."

"Truth is the only foundation of honour, and the surest source of a man's influence with his fellow-men. When you come across someone of whom those who know him say "so-and-so told me such and such a thing, so it must be true"– you are dealing, believe me, with a man to be reckoned with. But there are other aspects of Truth not quite so obvious as those with which I have been dealing. We have been thinking about Truth as between ourselves and others. There is also, and just as important, the matter of Truth within ourselves."

"No one can possess what we call good judgement, which is about the same thing as an instinct for recognizing Reasonable Probabilities, whose mind is not trained to follow truth. And in many of the most important things of life. Reasonable Probabilities are our only guides."

"The removal from among us of a public man of exceptional capacity and marked personality still in the prime of life, is at any time a tragedy. The sense of loss on personal and public grounds, and the inevitable diminution of the effective influence which at all times so essentially depends on the winning personality of the individual, are keen and real."

"We are living in troubled times. None can see far into the future, or can pretend to guess what new order, social, political or economic, may emerge for the world in the next few years. At such a time individuals, communities, nations, and all mankind are in desperate need of the virtues of courage, self-confidence, mutual trust and understanding, which alone can lead the peoples of the world to build again what has been shattered, and bind themselves together more strongly in a spirit of unity, brotherhood and goodwill."

"We have, I suspect, a long way to go yet. We may have to face many very difficult and awkward situations. It may well be that the real test still lies ahead of us."

"I well know that there are many people who press for swifter and more radical solutions of the problems before us."

"I do not question the sincerity or the good intentions of those who feel that way."

"Art never thrives, though its seeds may continue to live, during a period of intellectual complacency or of political chaos, such as, those which followed the disintegration of the Roman Empire and the end of the Mughal Period. Greek Art of the Periclean Age and the Art of the Italian Renaissance rose out of a trough of conventionalism on the uprising of a great wave of fresh ideas and new values, of bold and courageous experiment."

"I am optimistic enough to believe that out of the struggle in which we are engaged today a new world will be born; a world of security, confidence, prosperity and co-operation; a world in which the arts of peace can flourish. Let us hope so, at any rate for, paradox though it may seem, that is what we are fighting for."

"War is an evil thing."

"We will always be neighbours of Germany. We face the alternative of reaching an agreement with her or of clashing every twenty years on the battlefield."

"Just as war was originally waged between towns, then between countries and recently between empires, so, in future, it would be waged between continents. He did not believe in a Franco-German conflict...but sooner or later the Russians and the Chinese would launch an attack upon Europe. We had to make ourselves safe against this."

"War means the end of us all. Mankind is morally incapable of enduring another war, the horrors of which will surpass everything that has occurred hitherto. War would mean the end of Christian civilization."

"I consider agreement between Italy and France, that is to say between the Latin countries, including Nationalist Spain as well, as my life's mission."

"Mr Chamberlain is right to refuse to intervene in Spain, just as he is right to re-establish good relations with Italy. I hope that my country will not delay too long in following England's example."

"What is going on is abominable. A cry of indignation goes up at such a situation. Today, Germany, who lost the war, has more territory than she had before 1914... I demand that the government should find the solution. But there's one which is impossible and that is to let Germany go on with what she's doing."

"Because French-Italian cooperation had been destroyed Germany was in Vienna and in Prague. By turning their backs on his policy the French Governments had, since 1936, compromised the security of France and given to Germany the means, or at least part of the means, to capture the hegemony of Europe. In 1935, without a formal treaty, she had, in fact, become the ally of France. Although the Berlin-Rome Axis might be solid, and relations bad between Paris and Rome, M. Laval, nevertheless, could not finally acquiesce in a situation that was manifestly contrary to the interests of both countries."

"Well, it was unfortunate for us all that he [Ramsay MacDonald] refused to face the unpalatable fact of Abyssinia at Stresa, because Mussolini mistook his silence for agreement instead of imbecility; and his subsequent disillusion threw him into the arms of Germany, with the result that we lost Austria, and with it the whole of central Europe. Now, Mr. Boothby, I want to tell you that I think this war is a great mistake. If we had come to terms with Mussolini, as I wanted to do, we might have held Germany. That is no longer possible. We have given most of Europe to Hitler. Let us try to hold on to what we have got left. I am a peasant from the Auvergne. I want to keep my farm, and I want to keep France. Nothing else matters now... Make peace at once. Those people, have no idea of what they are up against."

"Gamelin is absolutely useless. The troops are all underground in that wretched Maginot Line, and completely demoralized. They should be in armour, but we haven't got any... Their [the French people] heart is not in this war... Quite soon the Germans are going to attack us. They will defeat us in three weeks, and we shall have to surrender. I would like to avoid that. We have already given them central and eastern Europe, and that we cannot undo. If we accept that, they might leave us alone, at least for a time; and ultimately turn east. Meanwhile, if we are to avoid immediate disaster, we have no alternative but to come to terms with them."

"Whether, in the last resort, Germany wins the war or not, we now have less choice than ever. We must reach an agreement with her... I don't believe in the permanence or even the long life of Nazism. In fifteen or twenty years' time – and that's nothing in history – Europe will have a new thirst for freedom. If the French flame has been kept alight, albeit dimly, it is to her that they will come to rekindle the extinguished torches...for there will be no one else."

"There are two alternatives, either you agree to what we ask and model yourselves on the German and Italian constitutions, or Hitler will force you to do so... France has never had and never will have a more inveterate enemy than Great Britain. Our whole history bears witness to that. We have been nothing but toys in the hands of England, who has exploited us to ensure her own safety. Today we are at the bottom of the abyss where she led us... I see only one way to restore France...to the position which she is entitled: namely, to ally ourselves resolutely with Germany and to confront England together."

"Since parliamentary democracy wished to enter into a struggle with Nazism and fascism and since it lost that struggle, it must disappear. A new régime – one that is bold, authoritarian, social and national – must take its place."

"I desire the victory of Germany, for without it, bolshevism would tomorrow install itself everywhere."

"I tried to organize peace in Europe and I thought that the first thing to do was to bring France and Italy together. I thought that this was the first link in a chain which would one day lead us to an agreement with Germany."

"We must organize our continent and Europe will be weak or it will be strong. For it to survive, it must be constructed according to certain principles... The organization of all the countries which comprise our continent must be such that neither the conquerors nor the conquered are ever again tempted to rise up against one another. On the material plane, the countries must help one another and harmonize their economic interests so that the needs of each can be satisfied without recourse to the competition and violence which have too often been the rule of the past. The new Europe will last if the germs of revenge are forever eradicated from it."

"I have always had simple ideas in politics. People take me for a shyster, but they don't know me. What I do is so simple that it looks to those who don't understand like something very complicated."

"It has been said that I lacked idealism, doubtless because I believed and still do believe that, while politics must not neglect the imponderables, it must be based upon realities, especially in the foreign field. Régimes follow one another and revolutions take place, but geography remains unchanged. We will be neighbours of Germany forever."

"You have tried to give and to keep. You wanted to have your cake and eat it. You cancelled your words by your deeds and your deeds by your words. You have debased everything by fixing, intrigue and slickness... Not sensitive enough to the importance of great moral issues, you have reduced everything to the level of your petty methods."

"M. Laval believed that world-wide peace hinged on keeping peace in Europe; that European peace hinged on cordial relations between France and Germany; and that France and Germany could work out their differences only if the British would refrain from interfering in European affairs in execution of their traditional balance-of-power policy... He envisioned a future where Europe would be more or less united, Russia would be thrust back into Asia, and the Anglo-Saxon world would lead an autonomous existence with the United States and France serving as the point of contact between the European and Anglo-Saxon world."

"He impressed me strongly as a man of directness and solidity of mind with whom it was possible to pursue a subject consecutively in a way which Englishmen understand."

"My impression of Laval has steadily risen during this series of conferences from the first time I met him in Paris. He has shown himself to be able, forceful man and I think also a sincere man... His speeches in the conference were always to the point, clear and forceful. In his talks with me he was extremely frank and towards the end of our acquaintance manifested the utmost friendliness."

"Laval stands in a class by himself for frankness and directness and simplicity and he is different from all other Frenchmen with whom I have negotiated in these respects."

"Japan would take action in a decisive form if she had the feeling that otherwise she would lose a chance which could only occur once in a thousand years."

"Japan will oppose any attempt at international control of Manchuria. It does not mean that we defy you, because Manchuria belongs to us by right. Read your history. We recovered Manchuria from Russia. We made it what it is today."

"We look into the gloom of the future and can see no certain gleam of light before us."

"Japan has been and will always be the mainstay of peace, order and progress in the Far East."

"Would the American people agree to such control of the Panama Canal Zone; would the British permit it over Egypt? The Japanese people will oppose any such attempt in Manchuria. I beg of this body to realize the facts and see a vision of the future. I earnestly beg of you to deal with us on our terms, to give us your confidence. To deny us this appeal will be a mistake. I ask you not to adopt this report."

"[T]he Japanese government is obliged to feel that hey have now reached the limit of their endeavors to co-operate with the league regarding Sino-Japanese differences. It is a source of profound regret and disappointment to the Japanese government that the draft report has now been adopted by this assembly. Japan has been a member of the league since its inception. Our delegates in past conferences participated in the drafting of the league covenant. We have been proud to be members, associated with the leading nations of the world in one of the grandest purposes in which humanity could unite. It has always been our sincere wish and pleasure to co-operate with fellow members of the league, attaining the great aims held in common and long cherished by humanity. I deeply deplore the situation we are now confronting, for I doubt if the same aims-the desire to see lasting peace established-is animating us all in our deliberations and actions. It is a matter of common knowledge that Japan's policy is fundamentally inspired by the genuine desire to guarantee peace in the Far East and to contribute to the maintenance of peace throughout the world. Japan, however, finds it impossible to accept the report adopted by the assembly, and she has taken pains to point out that the recommendations in the report cannot be considered such as would secure peace in that part of the world. The Japanese government now find themselves compelled to conclude that Japan and other members of the league entertain different views on the manner to achieve peace in the Far East, and the Japanese government feel they have now reached the limit of their endeavors to co-operate with the league with regard to Sino-Japanese differences. The Japanese government will, however, make their utmost efforts for the establishment of peace in the Far East and the maintenance and strengthening of cordial relations with other powers. I need hardly add that the Japanese government will persist in their desire to contribute to human welfare, and will continue their policy of co-operating in all sincerity in the work dedicated to world peace."

"It was a marvellous morning, clear as a mirror, warm as the promise of love, bright as heaven."

"Ericson was a big man, broad and tough: a man to depend on, a man to remember: about forty-two or -three, fair hair going grey, blue eyes as level as a foot rule, with wrinkles at the corners — the product of humour and of twenty years' staring at a thousand horizons."

"Just before Christmas, two Allied countries had sustained naval losses of shocking dimensions: Britain had lost two great ships—Prince of Wales and Repulse—in a single bombing attack, and America, at Pearl Harbor, had suffered a crippling blow that robbed her of half her effective fleet at one stroke. ("Proper uproar, it must have been," Lockhart overheard someone in the mess-decks say; and another anonymous voice answered: "Biggest surprise since Ma caught 'er tits in the mangle....") The attack brought America into the war, an ally coming to the rescue at a most crucial moment: but her principal war was never the Atlantic—that lifeline remained, from beginning to end, the ward of the British and the Canadian navies. America turned her eyes to the Pacific, where she had much to do to stem the furious tide of the Japanese advance: in the Atlantic, the battle of escort against U-boat still saw the same contestants in the ring, now coming up for the fourth round, the bloodiest so far."

"Lockhart had already been in collision a number of times with the Russian interpreter, a small fiery individual who seemed to regard every request for stores or facilities as yet another example of the top-hatted capitalists milking the simple proletariat. On their last morning, an hour before sailing, there developed between them a row so furious and so all-embracing that it was difficult to remember that it had started with a complaint about the quality of the fresh meat supplied to Saltash for her return journey. When it had ranged widely, from a comparison of the Russian and the British standards of living, to an analysis of their respective war efforts, and fists had been shaken on both sides-for Lockhart found this habit of emphasis infectious—the interpreter took a stormy departure. At the head of the gang-way he turned, for a final blistering farewell."You English," he said, in thunderous accents and with extraordinary venom, "think we know damn nothing—but I tell you we know damn all.""

"Foster always said that education was very important, but that it didn't really matter, because intelligence was more important than that, and that even intelligence didn't count for so much, that wisdom was far more important still. He said he had no idea in the world whether you had education or intelligence or wisdom and that it couldn't matter less, a blind man could see that you had a good heart, and the good heart was all that mattered in this world."

"The moment when a man hears that a girl's fiance has died only that day is the last moment that that man should ever begin to fall in love with her, but I'm afraid that's just how it was. The emotions are no respecters of the niceties, the proprieties and decencies of this life."

"Dr. MacDonald was a big heavily-built man in his late forties, with that well-leathered and spuriously tough look you quite often find among a certain section of the unemployed landed gentry who spend a great deal of time in the open air, much of it mounted on large horses in pursuit of small foxes."

"Every man is what environment and heredity make him."

"Nature wanted to show mankind, an irreverent, over-venturesome mankind, just how puny and pitifully helpless a thing mankind really is"

"To all things an end, to every night its dawn; even to the longest night when dawn never comes, there comes at last the dawn."

"Many had found, or were finding, that the point of no return was not necessarily the edge of the precipice: it could be the bottom of the valley, the beginning of the long climb up the far slope, and when a man had once begun that climb he never looked back to that other side."

"She plunged down and kept on going down, driving down to the black floor of the Arctic, driven down by the madly spinning screws, the still thundering engines her own executioner."

"Major Rutledge of the Buffs, Eton and Sandhurst as to intonation, millimetrically tooth-brushed as to moustache, Savile Row as to the quite dazzling sartorial perfection of his khaki drill, was so magnificently out of place in the wild beauty of the rocky, tree-lined bluffs of that winding creek that his presence there seemed inevitable."

"There are no brave men and cowardly men in the world, my son. There are only brave men. To be born, to live, to die—that takes courage enough in itself, and more than enough. We are all brave men and we are all afraid, and what the world calls a brave man, he, too, is brave and afraid like all the rest of us. Only he is brave for five minutes longer."

"Cruelty and hate and intolerance are the monopoly of no particular race or creed or time. They have been with us since the world began and are still with us, in every country in the world."

"The intolerance of ignorance, not wanting to know – that is the last real frontier on earth."

"Women, I thought: if they fell over a cliff and thought there was company waiting at the bottom, they'd comb their hair on the way down."

"She had the best kind of courage, or maybe the worst kind, the kind that gets you into trouble."

"The first thing I noticed was the gun in his hands, and it wasn't the sort of gun a beginner carries around with him. A big dull black German Mauser 7.63. One of those economical guns; the bullet goes clear through three people at once."

"Big crime is big business, and big criminals are big businessmen, running their illegal activities with all the meticulous care and administrative precision of their more law-abiding colleagues."

"The Peacemaker Colt has now been in production, without change in design, for a century. ... It is the oldest hand-gun in the world, without question the most famous and, if efficiency in its designated task of maiming and killing be taken as criterion of its worth, then it is also probably the best hand-gun ever made."

"I should have listened to Hunslett. Again I should have listened to Hunslett. And again for Hunslett's sake. But I didn't know then that Hunslett was to have time for all the sleep in the world."

"It is no small thing, Major, to be lost in a blizzard in the night skies over war-torn Europe."

"He says if it's a choice between a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany and internment in Switzerland he knows which side of the frontier he’s coming down on... After that we fly down the Swiss side of Lake Constance, turn east at Lindau, climb to eight thousand to clear the mountains and it’s only a hop, skip and jump to the Weissspitze." "I see," Smith said weakly. "But—but don't the Swiss object?" "Frequently, sir."

"With a face and a figure and an acting talent like that, she could have had Hollywood tramping a path of beaten gold to her doorstep."

"This won't look so good in my obituary," Schaffer said dolefully. There was a perceptible edge of strain under the lightly spoken words. ... "Gave his life for his country in a ladies' lavatory in Upper Bavaria."

"Kind of a treble agent, see?" Schaffer said in a patient explaining tone. "That's one better than double."

"They'll be coming for you, Mr. Jones. They'll be coming any moment now. I hate to say this, but I must. It is my duty to warn you what will happen to you, an enemy spy. You'll be tortured, Mr. Jones—not simply everyday tortures like pulling out your teeth and toe-nails, but unspeakable tortures I can't mention with Miss Ellison here—and then you'll finish in the gas chambers. If you're still alive. ... Oh God, when they strip you off and strap you down on the torture table—" Two seconds later Carnaby-Jones was over the sill and sliding down the nylon rope. His eyes were screwed tightly shut. Mary said, admiringly: "You really are the most fearful liar ever." "Schaffer keeps telling me the same thing," Smith admitted. "You can't all be wrong."

"The Major Smiths of this world don't drive over the edge of a cliff. Quotation from the future Mrs. Schaffer. The Major Smiths of this world don't fall off the roofs of cable cars. Quotation from the future. Mrs. Schaffer's future husband."

"Schaffer caught her by the shoulders, kissed her briefly and smiled at her. She looked at him in surprise. "Well, aren't you glad to see me?" Schaffer demanded. "I've had a terrible time up there. Good God, girl, I might have been killed." "Not as handsome as you were two hours ago." She smiled, gently touched his face where Carraciola's handiwork with the Schmeisser had left its bloody mark, and added over her shoulder as she climbed into the bus: "And that's as long as you've known me." "Two hours! I've aged twenty years tonight. And that, lady, is one helluva long courtship.""

"The motorcycle patrol's decision to elect for discretion in lieu of suicidal valour was as immediate as it was automatic."

""I am sorry, Miss Lemay. This must have been a great shock to you and it's all my fault. Will you come and have a drink with me? You look as if you need one." She dabbed her cheek some more and looked at me in a manner that demolished all thoughts of instant friendship. "I wouldn't even cross the road with you," she said tonelessly. The way she said it indicated that she would willingly have gone half-way across a busy street with me and then abandoned me there. If I had been a blind man."

"We know about this deliberate policy admittedly as effective as it is suicidal—of endless provocation, waiting for something, for somebody to break. But please, Major Sherman, please do not try to provoke too many people in Amsterdam. We have too many canals."

"Unspecified exhortation, when translated into practice, is always liable to a certain amount of executive misdirection."

"I was glad I was alive. Glad to be alive. It had been the sort of night that didn’t look like having any morning, but here I was and I was glad. The girls were glad. I was warm and dry and fed, the jonge Genever was happily chasing the red corpuscles in a game of merry-go-round, all the coloured threads were weaving themselves into a beautiful pattern and by day’s end it would be over. I had never felt so good before. I was never to feel so good again."

"They had come a long way, those gypsies encamped for their evening meal on the dusty greensward by the winding mountain road in Provence. ... A long journey, hot and stifling and endlessly, monotonously repetitive across the already baking plains of Central Europe or slow and difficult and exasperating and occasionally dangerous in the traversing of the great ranges of mountains that had lain in their way."

"When one searches any place, be it a gypsy caravan or a baronial mansion, methodically and exhaustively, one has to wreck it completely in the process."

"A terrified rat will swear to anything."

"They have every good reason to fear those from the outside world. We, ironically known as the civilizados—in practically everything that matters they're a damned sight more civilised than we are—bring them so-called progress, which harms them, so-called change, which harms them, so-called civilisation, which harms them even more, and disease, which kills them."

"Some things that humans make transcend their function; instruments can be magical. That explosive, rhythmic sound we call says more to us about getting under way, about departure, than a can ever do; perhaps it has something close to the beat of our pulse. Even if we were using up and heating the earth too much, and no-one knew that at the time, it would have been worth making an exception for steam engines. They were beautiful machines; the most beautiful machines produced in the ."

"burnt in a furnace surrounded by water created ; steam confined in a cylinder pushed a , and linked to wheels by rods that turned the straight thrust of the piston into rotatory motion, the moved and worked. The idea that hordes of people and commodities could be carried at such shockingly powerful speeds by a sort of articulated kettle, in which the water could never be allowed to fall below the top of the furnace or there would be an explosion, seemed amazing to me. What made it all so different from today's s, which run at set speeds, was the need to be aware at every moment of the perilous balance of fire and water, which also gave the possibility of going a little faster if the engineman was good, or of disaster if he was incompetent."

"visited Thailand many times after that, and did charitable work for the surviving Asian labourers, many of whom were unable to return home to India or after the war and dragged out miserable lives in villages near the railway; and he opened a temple of peace on the , and spoke out against . It all seemed admirable, but I read about these things with a surprising sense of detachment. I had expected to feel some more powerful emotion, but apart from the eerie feeling of being present at my own torture as an onlooker I felt empty. And I wondered at his feeling that he had been forgiven. God may have forgiven him, but I had not; mere human forgiveness is another matter."

"Sometime the hating has to stop."

"Watch ', which goes on general release in the new year, and you'll leave the cinema feeling you know all about the complicated, scarred individual at its centre: , who was and eventually rescued from his torment through the love of his wife . But there are three names you won't hear during the film: those of Nan, Eric's first wife, and Linda and Charmaine, his daughters. The four of them were a family for 37 years yet they are completely missing from the film, which stars , and ."

"Mr. Lomax, who was born in Scotland, was 19 when he joined the in 1939. He was one of thousands of British soldiers who surrendered to the Japanese in . Many were relocated to Thailand and forced to build the , also known as the Death Railway. ... Mr. Lomax was repeatedly beaten and interrogated after his captors found a radio receiver he had made from spare parts. Multiple bones were broken and water was poured into his nose and mouth. One of his constant torturers stood out: , an interpreter. ... ... He learned that after the war Mr. Nagase had become an interpreter for the Allies and helped locate thousands of graves and mass burial sites along the Burma Railway."

"At the end of the war, the situation was such that it would not have been difficult for us to seize power and begin building a socialist society. Most of the people would have followed us."

"[...] even in the mane of a noble racehorse, you can always find two or three lice."

"Very often, the enemies of the workers try to challenge the patriotism of communists and socialists, invoking their internationalism and presenting it as a manifestation of cosmopolitanism, indifference and contempt for the homeland. This too is a slander. Communism has nothing in common with cosmopolitanism. Fighting under the banner of international workers' solidarity, communists in every country, as the vanguard of the working masses, stand firmly on national ground. Communism does not oppose, but rather reconciles and unites patriotism and proletarian internationalism, since both are based on respect for the rights, freedoms and independence of individual peoples. It is ridiculous to think that the working class can detach itself, separate itself from the nation. The modern working class is the backbone of nations, not only because of its numbers, but also because of its economic and political function. The future of the nation rests first and foremost on the shoulders of the working classes. Communists, who are the party of the working class, cannot therefore detach themselves from their nation unless they want to sever their vital roots. Cosmopolitanism is an ideology completely foreign to the working class. It is instead the characteristic ideology of international bankers, international cartels and trusts, big stock market speculators and arms manufacturers. These are the patriots of their portfolios. They not only sell, but willingly sell themselves to the highest bidder among foreign imperialists."

"(In 1953, referring to Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin and Stalin's enemies) He had the characteristics of a presumptuous, vain and scheming professor. Like others, he had the makings of a double-dealer and traitor."

"Bordiga lives peacefully in Italy today as a Trotskyist scoundrel, protected by the police and the fascists, hated by the workers as a traitor should be hated."

"(Last words spoken in Russian, greeting the young guests of the Artek pioneer camp, a few minutes before the illness that would lead to his death) Dear friends, pioneers. I can say very little to you because, in reality, our languages are different. But, comrades, our hearts are the same. The same thoughts, the same ideals live in your hearts and in mine. There are no differences between us because we are fighting for the same goals. You and we are fighting together for the same ends. You and we are fighting together for peace, for the happiness of peoples, for brotherhood among peoples, for progress, for socialism. In this unity of ours lies the guarantee of our victory, young people, pioneers. And you and we, although we are in different conditions and with different means, are waging the same struggle. And therein lies the certainty of our success, of victory over our adversaries, of the victory of peace throughout the world, of the victory of socialism and communism. Thank you very much, dear friends."

"“'l'Unità”', 23 August 1964, p. 3."

"(From the speech at the Foro Italico on 27 September 1948, for the first time after the attack he suffered two months earlier) Comrades, I have finished. [...] Take my greetings everywhere in Italy, take them to the workers and the unemployed in the factories of Milan, Turin, Genoa, all our industrial capitals; take my greetings to the strong labourers and sharecroppers of the Po plain, to the farmers of southern Italy; take them to the professionals, to the employees who are fighting hard today for bread, a just battle; take them a greeting that will strengthen them in the struggle they must face, which tells them once again that in Italy, within the Italian people, an invincible force has arisen and lives: the force of the Communist Party. No one has yet succeeded in breaking this force, nor will they ever succeed, and it knows that it is called upon to make its decisive contribution to leading the masses of the people in a redemptive struggle, which can only end in our victory. Comrades, to work, to struggle [Communist slogans]. The dark forces of reaction, the hostile forces that have even resorted to murder to break us, these forces will not prevail. Victory will be ours!"

"(To Pietro Secchia) What did Juve do yesterday? [...] And you want to start a revolution without knowing Juve's results?"

"Since we overthrew fascism, we have made an explicit declaration that places us on the path to democratic development. We have achieved a republican constitution, in which democratic principles are enshrined, and we have always declared that we remain faithful to those principles. [One could argue that] this is not the case in other countries [under communist regimes]. This would require a lengthy discussion. Italy is a country of great intellectual and philosophical traditions. Italian thinkers were the initiators of the great modern school of historicism: we had Gian Battista Vico, Antonio Labriola, Antonio Gramsci, and Carlo Cattaneo. The starting point of modern historicist thought is concrete analysis, reality. In the Soviet Union, China and other countries, the socialist revolution took place in conditions dictated by those circumstances, by the balance of power, by war, by attacks from all enemies, and so on. We were under Fascism, an anti-democratic and anti-national regime that had deprived us of all our freedoms [...]. We had to fight that regime with all means, and we fought, even taking up arms. We have won democracy, which is an achievement of ours, of the popular movement, of the communists, of the socialists, of the advanced democrats, and also of the Christian Democrats who have democratic opinions. We are committed to continuing along this path that the Republican Constitution guarantees us. By continuing along this path, we will succeed in laying the foundations for a new society based on freedom and social justice. :*From the television programme “'Tribuna elettorale”', Rai, 14 October 1960; transcript reported in “'l'Unità”', 15 October 1960, p. 8."

"Hence the constant threat of reactionary adventure. Today, large monopolies dominate and clerical hierarchies lay down the law. Instead of having a republic based on work, we have a power based on social privilege, discrimination, corruption and the blatant wealth of a few. [...] the advantage has not gone and does not go to everyone: where large monopolies reign, the benefits of economic progress created by everyone's work do not go to everyone but only to small privileged groups [...]."

"After the dramatic days in Geno [events in Genoa on 30 June 1960], [...] now, in Reggio, there has been a massacre: five dead and dozens injured, at the hands of the police forces unleashed against a peaceful people. There is a harsh, terrible logic in this succession of events. It is the logic of the actions of a government (about the Tambroni government) whose very constitution pushes it towards violence against the democratic and anti-fascist masses. [...] In Reggio Emilia, the government, indebted for its existence to the votes and support of the fascists, sought revenge for the victory of anti-fascism in Genoa. And cynically, for this purpose, it has shed the blood of defenceless citizens. [...] Today, the country does not understand the government's actions and condemns them. It does not understand why anti-fascist demonstrations by the people should be banned and dispersed by the police with machine-gun fire. Anti-fascism is the foundation of our political system. A government that takes a stand against anti-fascism becomes, through its actions, the source of a political situation that is already unsustainable and could become catastrophic. Our hearts are filled with bitterness and grief today. We feel that it is necessary to abandon the path of repeated conflicts, clashes and massacres. We feel that détente is necessary. But the first condition for this is that the country be freed from the shameful alliance between the government and fascism and from the shame of a government based on this alliance. The spirit of the vast majority is democratic and anti-fascist. This spirit must inspire the formation and action of the new government. The longer this decision is delayed, the more serious the consequences will be."

"I am particularly proud to have renounced my Italian citizenship in favour of Soviet citizenship. I do not feel attached to Italy as my homeland, but consider myself a citizen of the world, of the world that we want united in Moscow under the leadership of Comrade Stalin. I am particularly proud to have renounced my Italian citizenship because, as an Italian, I felt like a miserable mandolin player and nothing more. As a Soviet citizen, I feel I am worth ten thousand times more than the best Italian citizen."

"(The Vatican) is the most irreconcilable and organised opponent of greater democratic transformation in Italy."

"The real problem is that economic development has so far been regulated, essentially, by the harsh law of profit, the interests of big capital and the privileged classes. The people have worked hard. The pace of work in the factories has become so intense that it exhausts a man in the space of a few years. But it has happened as with the bees of the bitter honey for which Virgil accused the profiteers of his work. Remember? You make the honey, bees, but others enjoy it. The profits of the big capitalists are sky-high. [...] Socialism is our goal. We make no secret of it. We want a new society, based on the end of exploitation, on solidarity and fraternity among all people, on their social equality, on access for all to well-being, culture and the economic and political management of power, and on peace. This is what we are working and fighting for. And today, for our country, what we want is a shift to the left, for a democratic advance, in accordance with the Constitution and the principles it enshrines, which, if applied, offer the Italian people the hope of a bright future of progress, freedom and happiness."

"We must do everything we can to encourage the occupation of the Julian region by Marshal Tito's troops. This means that there will be neither British occupation nor a restoration of the reactionary Italian administration in this region, i.e. a situation will be created that is profoundly different from that which exists in the free part of Italy [...] this directive also applies above all to the city of Trieste."

"(At the conclusion of the commemoration of Stalin on the occasion of his death, delivered in the Chamber of Deputies) The heroic life of the victorious fighter has come to an end. His cause triumphs. His cause will triumph throughout the world."

"The discussion highlighted a new problem, that private schools are becoming a second state school system."

"Our position of principle regarding the armies that invaded the Soviet Union was defined by Stalin, and there is nothing more to say. In practice, however, if a large number of prisoners die as a result of the harsh conditions, I have absolutely nothing to say about it. On the contrary. And I'll explain why. There is no doubt that the Italian people have been poisoned by the imperialist and brigand ideology of fascism. Not to the same extent as the German people, but to a considerable extent. The poison has penetrated the peasants, the workers, not to mention the petty bourgeoisie and the intellectuals; in short, it has penetrated the people. The fact that for thousands and thousands of families Mussolini's war, and above all the expedition against Russia, will end in tragedy, in personal mourning, is the best and most effective antidote. {{NDR|Response of 15 February 1943 to a letter from Vincenzo Bianco asking him to intervene with the Kremlin on behalf of Italian prisoners in Russia."

"Our Soviet comrades never put really serious and grave matters in writing."

"The communist sections in city and town districts must become centres of popular life, centres where all comrades, sympathisers and those without a party, knowing that they will find a party and an organisation that cares about their problems and will provide them with guidance, knowing that they will find someone who can lead them, advise them and give them the opportunity to enjoy themselves if necessary."

"The effort I would like to make at the beginning of this debate, which has rightly been defined as preliminary, is to identify the essential assets that the Constitution must guarantee to the Italian people, assets that cannot be ignored if we want to achieve the fundamental objective that I have tried to set and which must be either established or restored. I believe that there are three such assets: the first is freedom and respect for popular sovereignty; the second is the political and moral unity of the nation; the third is social progress, linked to the advent of a new ruling class. If we succeed in drafting a Constitution that guarantees these three assets to the nation, then we will not have created, as has been said, an interim Constitution, but a Constitution that will effectively remain as the book to be placed next to the ark of the covenant, a Constitution that will enlighten and guide the Italian people for a long period of their history. The requirements I have indicated are not, in fact, something transitory, but are permanent and concrete requirements, corresponding to the well-defined historical situation that lies before us."

"The ranks of the Christian Democratic Party are filled with masses of workers, farmers, intellectuals and young people who basically have the same aspirations as us because, like us, they want a democratic and progressive Italy in which the demands of the working classes are given priority."

"(From the commemoration of Stalin on the occasion of his death, delivered in the Chamber of Deputies) Every time a word of peace is spoken, every time an act is performed that can ensure peace, we find Stalin there."

"To fight against the left, we must also use the police."

"(About the PRI) Small mass party."

"Always remember that the insurrection we want is not aimed at imposing social and political changes in a socialist or communist sense, but at national liberation and the destruction of fascism. All other problems will be resolved by the people tomorrow, once Italy has been liberated, through free popular consultation and the election of a Constituent Assembly."

"We extend [...] our greetings and homage to our country, which we love, for whose good we have worked and fought and to which we want to give and will give, with the victory of democracy and socialism, happiness, well-being and progress, security, independence, freedom and peace. Let us move forward [...], for the emancipation of labour, for the democratic and socialist renewal of Italy, for the triumph of communism."

"Joseph Stalin is a giant of thought, a giant of action. His name will be used to refer to an entire century, perhaps the most dramatic, certainly the most eventful in the arduous and glorious history of humankind."

"Stalin spread exaggerated and false theories; he was the victim of an almost desperate perspective of endless persecution, of general and continuous mistrust, of suspicion in all directions."

"I knew what the city of Matera was like, this city where three quarters of the population, namely those men who sweat from morning to night, toil incessantly, have no home worthy of the name, live in caves, do not know what a window is, and in those caves in which they live, which were dug centuries ago, families and working animals are crammed together in incredible promiscuity. I knew that from a city where three quarters of the population live in these terrible conditions, a terrible indictment would arise against the ruling classes of our country, the social groups, capitalists, landowners and privileged classes, who are responsible for the fact that in Italy there is still a city where thousands of men and women live in these conditions."

"Everyone understands the reality of today's economic life; everyone has seen how economic life has developed in capitalist Europe, where we have witnessed forms of concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, and how this has led to social upheaval, misery, war, fascism and tyranny, which has suppressed democratic freedom. This is what we are trying to remedy. The problem cannot be solved with economic theorems; it is a real political and social problem that began and continues to develop before the eyes of the present generation, and the working classes are trying to find a solution to it."

"(About Francesco Saverio Nitti) A man of undisputed value and undisputed ability."

"We have come a long way and we are going a long way! Without a doubt! Our goal is to create a society of free and equal people in our country, in which there is no exploitation of men by other men."

"The source of the organic deficiencies of the socialist movement was also to be found in the fatalistic vision of a revolution that was supposed to come about automatically, when capitalism had reached the final stage of its maturation. (chap. II, p. 24)"

"Ideas, the great principles of world renewal, do not advance by their own means. They have no legs, said one of the classics of our thought. They advance and impose themselves when, having penetrated the minds of men and the consciousness of a class, they become a force, because the best among men, and first of all in this class, go into battle for them, face danger, sacrifice their freedom and their lives. (chap. VII, p. 69)"

"The advance of fascism towards the destruction of all forms of democracy and towards a new war was the work of the most reactionary and chauvinistic groups of the capitalist bourgeoisie. It affected the rights, interests and aspirations not only of the workers, but of the vast majority of the population, of all non-reactionary political movements, of all those who loved civilisation or peace. However, as the facts themselves demonstrated, the initiative for all these forces to collaborate in order to save peace and democracy through joint action could only be taken by the working class, which is the objective historical antagonist of the reactionary bourgeois forces. (chap. VIII, p. 76)"

"This situation gave rise to the frenzied anti-communist agitation that has oppressed Italy for more than ten years, degrading our political struggle. This agitation is, particularly for Italy, a historical and political absurdity. It is a historical absurdity because everyone knows that if it had not been for the communists, the Italians would have lacked one of the necessary guides, perhaps the most important one, in their resistance and struggle against fascism and in the struggle for liberation. It is a political absurdity because the Communist Party is not a small, negligible entity, but is followed by the majority of workers, by large sections of the population, and by a far from small part of the intelligentsia. Banning it means introducing a division into the body of the nation that disturbs and poisons the whole life of the country. (chap. XI, p. 116)"

"In this grand picture, the decisive factor was the impetus given in Italy by the founder of our party, Antonio Gramsci, one of the most original thinkers of our time, the greatest Italian of our era, for the indelible mark he left with his thought and action. With Gramsci, Marxism, freed from the parasitic distortions of positivist fatalism and vulgar materialism, regains its full value as a conception of the world and an integral vision of history. It is once again the guide for action and thought in all fields, not only in purely political research, but also in the critique of a decrepit idealistic culture incapable of helping us understand the world of yesterday and today, in the construction of a new culture and in the struggle for the renewal of society. (chap. XIV, p. 142)"

"Before beginning this course, I would like to say a few words about the term “adversaries” to avoid any misinterpretation of this term by some of you, a misinterpretation that could lead to political errors. When we speak of adversaries, we are not referring to “the masses” who are members of fascist, social democratic or Catholic organisations. Our adversaries are the fascist, social democratic and Catholic “organisations”. But the masses who belong to them are not our adversaries; they are masses of workers whom we must make every effort to win over."

"What is the stance of Mr Togliatti's neo-Europeanism? The terms in which he expresses himself are such that it can be judged rather insipid and insubstantial: they are the usual formulas of the neutralists. It is America that disturbs the peace in Europe with its presence; through the EDC, it wants to rebuild the German army and mobilise Western Europe against Eastern Europe under the leadership of German nationalists. it is therefore necessary to reject the EDC, remove America from Europe, and promote understanding and rapprochement between all European peoples, whatever their regime. Cultural, economic, political and even military agreements can be developed between them, such as the reduction and control of armaments in all European states. According to Mr. Togliatti, these are the proposals that Europeanists should make in order to gain his approval. But one should not believe that he has converted to neutralist ideas. He adopts and supports them only because they fit perfectly into the framework of the tacit and ambitious communist policy, which must always be kept in mind if one wants to understand the meaning of the extraordinary propaganda masquerades to which it dedicates itself with such tenacity. :*Altiero Spinelli, L’europeismo di Togliatti, Il Mondo, 5 January 1954, pag.1."

"The son of a primary school teacher and a clerk, [...] he had been with Gramsci in Turin during the Red Biennium and was one of the founders of the party in 1921. Having taken refuge in Russia after the victory of fascism, he quickly rose in importance to become deputy secretary-general of the Comintern. Astute, prudent, cultured and haughty, he possessed an innate ability to survive all political storms: a quality that helped him in Moscow in the 1930s. Although he was obviously a loyal supporter of Stalin, Togliatti was able to think creatively and had a strategic overview, and these merits made him stand out within an international communist movement famous for its dogmatism and fideism."

"Gramsci had greater human sensitivity, he was more spontaneous and open. Togliatti, strange as it may seem, was much more intellectual."

"(About Togliatti and what struck him about his personality) His skill, but it was something more, the way in which he managed to impose, in a dialectical sense, the presence of the Communist Party."

"The Honourable Togliatti represents ideas and programmes that differ from mine. We are two parallel lines that can only meet at infinity."

"The greatest fault of television is that it introduced Togliatti and dancers into the hearts of Italian families."

"While for Gramsci what mattered and prevailed in the revolutionary perspective was the International, Togliatti limited its scope to the Soviet party."

"I think Togliatti only understood the Resistance when we shot Mussolini in Dongo."

"How many crimes did Togliatti commit or cover up in the 1930s and 1940s? Yet he is considered part of our history. (1975)"

"What enchanted me was his language, which was both popular and understood by everyone, yet every cautious motto, pure Italian, every word an exact reflection of what he wanted to express, every word right to “stir” the hearts and minds of those who listened to him. The square was packed. The rally took place in silence, the emotion acute in everyone. The leader of their enemies, of the Lucchesi, the Bianchi, spoke like a preacher from the pulpit, calmly, with a solemn echo... such precise speech also seemed like a tribute to the people who listened there, under the small stage, and who knew and cultivated the Italian language, the dictation, and who had preserved the beautiful speech, the Italian language, through the centuries."

"Togliatti is an educated, cultured Stalinist. Unfamiliar with Russian conditions and traditions, for several years he does not see the need to extend the Russian model to the entire communist movement; then he resigns himself to it, but without being completely convinced. It is not that he disputes or repudiates the great Stalinist cuts imposed with “just” and necessary violence; it is that he does not feel the need to add terror to terror, he remains free from persecutory mania, master of his roguish instincts, normal in terms of intelligence. And it is this normality of his in a world deformed by madness or tragedy that makes him appear more democratic than he really is."

"Togliatti was hated; he was considered an enemy, indeed the enemy, the cynical and diabolically skilled calculator who, against all tradition, against the established order, against the interests of the country, against the most deeply rooted beliefs and the most respected ideals, conspired to subvert, destroy and dismantle, using the most basic passions, exploiting misery and social resentment, intent solely on implementing the directives that came to him from a foreign country."

"Togliatti was a small, cold man, sharply intelligent, with an amused smile in private, which when speaking in public could turn into scathing sarcasm."

"One day, Togliatti held a rally in Castellammare and many people went to hear him speak. The communist spoke outdoors, near the seashore, on the slopes of Mount Faito. He was sturdy and wore glasses. While he was giving his speech in the square, several thousand people gathered. They listened in silence under the sun. Togliatti spoke of how bad things were in Italy, but one fine day he and the communists would take power and everything would change, everything would be better, much better. A group of policemen arrived in red jeeps. They stopped at the corner of the street and waited motionless. No one approved. No one protested."

"Vittorio Emanuele rarely talks about politics today, but he cannot be described as apolitical. He follows the life of Italian parties from afar and has different feelings about each of them. He hates Togliatti and Nenni unreservedly, has a modest opinion of the right-wing parties, ignores the populists and the minor nuances of the Italian political rainbow, Saragattiani, Azionisti, Democrazia del Lavoro; however, he considers Pacciardi, whom he does not know personally, an adversary to be respected."

"Togliatti had a certain aristocratic air about him, a nineteenth-century taste that meant he did not always appreciate certain avant-garde artistic experiments."

"As an intellectual, Togliatti had the heroism to sacrifice his creative, philosophical and cultural potential to the demands of political leadership."

"Togliatti's greatest intellectual creation was the new party, the PCI as we know it today."

"They spoke of his ties to Stalin and his reverence, even in difficult times. In reality, he knew him little: they had met on three or four occasions. He admired him as a tough and tenacious fighter, but he understood the revelations of the 20th Congress and was shocked by them. [...] He had a keen sensitivity, a strong propensity to understand. I know that the image of him is different, but I knew him in another way. He defended himself against facts that deeply disturbed him, but his intelligence forced him to accept them as moments in the journey of civilisation."

"We loved the mountains. Togliatti was a great walker, and so was I."

"(About Togliatti's failure to participate in the Italian Resistance) I assure you that Togliatti was not far from the Resistance. He was a cold man by nature, I agree. But he hated badges, and the only one he always wanted to show off was the one given to him by the Volunteer Corps of Freedom. If he could have, he would have parachuted into northern Italy. Cold, yes, but he had utopia inside him."

"(Regarding the Yalta Memorial) It is not true that Togliatti was exploited, that the memorial was used against Khrushchev. I see no connection between the memorial and the fall of Khrushchev. The great process that would lead to this event was already underway in the USSR."

"To think that it was possible for me to make a sentimental ultimatum such as “if you stay in Russia, I'll leave you” is to ignore what our relationship was like and what Togliatti's temperament was like."

"(Regarding the attempt on his life in 1948) When, a few days after his surgery, he was allowed to read the newspapers, Togliatti wanted to read the reports of the assassination attempt. He was struck by a nine-column headline in L'Unità: “Down with the government of civil war”. I remember his comment: if they had written “Down with the Home Secretary”, that would have been a request that was not only plausible but also acceptable! And in fact, it later emerged that in the Council of Ministers, which met urgently on the same day as the attack, the Foreign Minister Carlo Sforza and his undersecretary, a very young Aldo Moro, had raised the issue of the Interior Minister's resignation."

"(Regarding the Sino-Soviet crisis) Togliatti was concerned about relations between the USSR and China, and about the situation between the party and intellectuals that had arisen after Khrushchev had taken a very rigid and harsh stance."

"Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of Pietro Valdoni's death, and we would like to recall an episode involving the great surgeon. As everyone will remember, it was he who operated on Palmiro Togliatti, saving his life after he was wounded in the head by Pallante's revolver. When he received the bill, Togliatti found it steep and accompanied the payment with these words: “Here is the balance, but it is stolen money”. Valdoni replied: “Thank you for the cheque. I am not interested in where it came from”."

"It is difficult to know what Togliatti was like, because Togliatti left no memoirs, no diary. No one ever knew what Togliatti thought, not even his partner Nilde Iotti. It can be said that he was a faithful executor of Stalin's orders. He always was, and for this reason he enjoyed Stalin's trust. [...] Interviewer: Was he a great diplomat? Montanelli: He was a diplomat in his own right, above all because he was a man who survived twenty-five or thirty years in Moscow without ending up in prison, on trial, or against the wall. Well, that makes him one of the great figures. There are few of them. Interviewer: Was he not a statesman, for example? Montanelli: He could not be a statesman because communists do not have the state in their blood; communists have the Party. Stalin was never head of state, nor even head of government; he was head of the Party. Power in communist regimes lies neither in the state nor in the government, but in the Party."

"In the history of the Italian nation, I see few men who qualify as enlightened right-wingers who not only accept but want reforms. [...] And, now I don't want to shock people, but I would say that Togliatti was also a right-wing man because of his concept of the State and power. And this shows that you can be a right-wing man even on the left."