Military Leaders

"The Crown is not a symbol of the past, but a unique representation of our Independence, Sovereignty and Unity. The Crown is a reflection of the state and the nation. The Crown has strengthened Romania through Loyalty, Courage, Respect, Seriousness and Modesty. I do not see Romania today as an inheritance from our parents, but as a country that we borrowed from our children. So Help us God! Michael I R’"

"Because tens of millions of people have been destroyed practically, gone through absolute hell, and then suddenly they say, 'Well, it's all finished, let's forget it.' You don't forget it."

"It is amazing that His Majesty King Michael I waited seventy years for the crown to be placed on him. It was very touching to hear the huge crowd chanting loudly ‘monarchy, kingdom…’. His Majesty was a great man who was deeply respected by everyone."

"The last 20 years have brought democracy, freedom and a beginning of prosperity."... "The time has come after 20 years to... break for good with the bad habits of the past", such as "demagogy, selfishness and attempts to cling to power"... "It is within our power to make this country prosperous and worthy of admiration."

"King Michael I was simply exceptional…his strength, his dignity, his moral fibre..his devotion to his people left a huge mark and inspiration on many generations of Romanians."

"There are conflicts and troubles in many parts of the world, but the places where people have come together for talks and to find political solutions are now much safer and more prosperous,"

"Turkey's goal is to contribute to the formation of a Libya that has ensured its territorial integrity and political unity, and lives in peace, tranquility and stability,"

"Turkey's hydrocarbon-related activities in east Mediterranean are completely based on her legitimate rights and international law. Energy projects in the east Mediterranean that exclude Turkey from the energy equation are doomed to fail. We strongly believe peace and stability in the region can be achieved through dialogue,"

"I look at the events of the last 10 years with great pride."

"Do not allow these dissident forces to intimidate or influence you, there will be a curfew at 18:00 in the afternoon to stay at home, if you are seen on the street at that time, you will be considered rebellious and immediately executed"

"و وباء #كورونا يجتاح العالم مهددا للبشريةندعو مجلس الأمن والأمين العام للأمم المتحدة انتونيو غوتيرش @antoniojuterres لايقاف القوى المعتدية عن عدوانها على الشعب اليمني وفك الحصار عليه فالوباء ينتشر بكافة أنحاء العالم ويجب أن تنعم شعوب العالم بالسلام وتتمكن من مكافحة الوباء الخطير"

"My lord, I am without fear!"

"Urim, your , rivalling heaven and earth, whose great prince you are, [...] which dispenses the divine powers and makes the foundations and the plans firm both in the south and in the uplands, will surely escape from the grasp."

"That I should guard for you , and Nibru: let it be my responsibility. My lord should know this!"

"Elam, a raging dog, a destroyer, will not defile E-kic-nu-jal, the sanctuary which covers heaven and earth. [...] Its protective spirits shall not be split apart!"

"I heard news that the hostile Martu have entered inside your territories. [...] They are stronger than me, while I am condemned to sitting around."

"The place there where the boats moor will be under my responsibility."

"My lord: the loudest roarer."

"If you have not got enough grain, I myself shall have grain brought in to you. My lord has become distressed about the battles in Elam. But the Elamites' grain rations have quickly been exhausted, so do not slacken your forces! Do not fall head first into their slavery, nor follow at their heels!"

"May An, Enlil and Enki, who have loved Ibbi-Suen from the womb, look upon him approvingly."

"Say to Puzur-Culgi, the governor of : this is what Ibbi-Suen, your lord, says: [...] [A]s in my own case, are not your troops proof of your importance? Why have you sent me somebody saying: "Icbi-Erra has got his eyes upon me -- so let me come to you when he falls upon me"? [...] How come you did not know how long it would take to make Icbi-Erra return to the mountain lands? Why have you and Girbubu, the governor of Jirikal, not confronted him with the troops which you had at hand? Today Enlil loathes and has elevated to the shepherdship of the Land an ape which has descended from those mountain lands. Now Enlil has given kingship to an idiot, a seller of -- to Icbi-Erra, who is not of Sumerian origin."

"See, the assembly where the gods are and Sumer itself have been dispersed! Father Enlil, whose words prevail, said: "Until the enemy has been expelled from Urim, Icbi-Erra, the man from Mari, will tear out Urim's foundations. He will indeed measure out Sumer like grain." He has spoken just so."

"How could you allow Puzur-Numucda, the commander of the fortress Igi-hursaja, to let the hostile Martu penetrate into my Land? Until now he has not sent to you word about engaging in battle. There are puny men in the Land! Why has he not faced the Martu?"

"The others will defect to Icbi-Erra, in accordance with Enlil's word. Should you hand over your city to the enemy like your companions, Icbi-Erra will not recognise you as his faithful and agreeable servant? May it now be brought about that good words should be restored and treason extinguished. Let Icbi-Erra participate in the harvest among the people there; but you yourself, do not turn back, and do not come to me! His grasp should not get hold of the city! This man from Mari, with the understanding of a dog, should not exercise lordship!"

"As long as my lord is alive, he will exercise kingship over Urim."

"Before Utu, I will not change my word."

"Say to Ibbi-Suen, my lord: this is what Puzur-Culgi, the governor of Kazallu, your servant, says: A messenger of Icbi-Erra came to me. He presented himself before me announcing: "Icbi-Erra, my lord, sends you a message: Enlil, my lord, [...] has told me to bring before Ninisina the cities, deities and troops of the region of the Tigris, Euphrates, Ab-gal and Me-Enlila watercourses, from the province of to the sea of Magan, so as to make Isin the storehouse of Enlil, to make it famous, and to make those regions its spoils of war and to make Isin's citizens occupy their cities. Why do you oppose me? I swear by the name of my lord Enlil and by Dagan, my personal god, that I will indeed get hold of Kazallu! The cities and the province which Enlil has promised me I want to build up within Isin. [...] I want to perform at their ecec festivals. I want to install my statues, my emblems, my en priests and nindijir priestesses in their jipar shrines. And as for you, I want to remove from within his country the man in whom you placed your trust! I want to rebuild the fortification of Isin and name it Idil-pacunu!""

"Say to Icbi-Erra: this is what your lord, Ibbi-Suen, says: As long as Enlil was my lord, what course were you following? And is this how you alter your word? Today Enlil detests me, he detests his son Suen (the principal deity of Urim), and is handing Urim over to the enemy. Its central part is gone, the enemy has risen up, and all the lands are thrown into disarray. But on the day when Enlil turns again towards his son Suen, you and your word will be marked out!"

"Your heart should not fret over this. [...] Let your heart be glad over."

"Just as he said he would, he has rebuilt the fortification of Isin and named it Idil-pacunu. He has captured Nibru and installed his garrison there. Also he has captured Nijdugani, the chief administrator of Nibru. He has imprisoned Zinnum, the governor of Subir. He has plundered Hamazi. He has made Nur-ahi, the governor of Ecnunna, Cu-Enlil, the governor of Kec, and Puzur-Tutu, the governor of Bad-ziaba, return to their posts. At his cry of victory [...] Icbi-Erra is constantly at the head of his soldiers! Just as he said he would, he has captured the regions of the Tigris, Euphrates, the Ab-gal and Me-Enlila watercourses. He has made Iddin enter Malgium. Opposing Girbubu, the governor of Jirikal, he cut off his strap and captured him. His cry of victory lies heavily upon us. Now Icbi-Erra is looking in my direction. I have no ally, nobody with whom I can align myself. Since he has not yet been able to get me in his grasp, let me come to you when he falls upon me. My lord should know this!"

"You have made me so happy with the news and everything. Who could give me a house-born slave such as you are? Who has such a capable man, so beneficial to his lord? [...] From today, you are my son who makes me happy. The cities of the province, the land of the Martu, Elam -- all of them I have placed before you: you are just as important as I am. So sit before them on a throne on a golden dais! [...] Let their messengers prostrate themselves in front of you! [...] Remove a governor -- appoint a governor! Appoint a commander! Designate a captain-general! Certainly you should put a man to death, a man who has killed: blind the man who has killed! Build your house of manhood for an attendant who has been favourably looked upon! Make sure your recompense is great! Now, you should not suddenly alter your word about all that I have been sending to you."

"Idleness is the source of all disorders, and if it is at all tolerated, I shall hold the military commanders responsible, persuaded that those who tolerate idleness and vagabonds are secret enemies of the government."

"...We have no other resource than destruction and flame. Bear in mind that the soil bathed with our sweat must not furnish our enemies with the smallest aliment. Tear up the roads with shot; throw corpses and horses into all the fountains; burn and annihilate everything, in order that those who have come to reduce us to slavery may have before their eyes the image of hell which they deserve."

"Since the revolution, I have done all that depended upon me to return happiness to my country and to ensure liberty for my fellow citizens. Forced to combat internal and external enemies of the French Republic, I made war with courage, honor and loyalty. I have never strayed from the rules of justice with my enemies as much as was in my power I sought to soften the horrors of war, to spare the blood of men."

"He was one of the leaders. There were others: Boukman, a Jamaican who in 1791 organized a Vodou ceremony where people pledged to fight for liberty or to die. There was Mackandal. And then L’Ouverture, who was on a plantation, who started organizing, and had military training. There were also leaders like Jean-Jacques Dessalines, whose motto was, “Cut their heads off, burn their houses.” L’Ouverture was taken from Haiti and imprisoned in France, where he died. Wordsworth wrote a poem about him. One of L’Ouverture’s most quoted sayings was, when he was about to be taken off by the French, “You can cut the branches of the tree of liberty, but you can’t destroy the roots because they are too strong and too many.” He was a phenomenal leader, but it’s important to acknowledge the others. Because it’s a problem we have thinking that one person can make a revolution, whether it’s now or in the past."

"Hopefully, these characters bring us closer to a sense of self: honest and honored. Icons: Toussaint Louverture to José Martí to lesser known heroes, Atahualpa and Denmark Vesey. We lace our visions with Celia Cruz and Aretha Franklin."

"It is for you, Citizen Directors, to remove from over our heads the storm that the eternal enemies of our liberty are preparing in the shades of silence. It is for you to enlighten the Legislature, it is for you to prevent the enemies of the present system from spreading themselves on our unfortunate shores to sully them with new crimes. Do not allow our brothers, our friends, to be sacrificed to men who wish to reign over the ruins of the human species. But no, your wisdom will enable you to avoid the dangerous snares which our common enemies hold out for you."

"We are black, it is true, but tell us, gentle men, you who are so judicious, what is the law that says that the black man must belong to and be the property of the white man?"

"For too long we have borne your chains without thinking of shaking them off, but any authority which is not founded on virtue and humanity, and which only tends to subject one's fellow man to slavery, must come to an end, and that end is yours."

"Let the sacred flame of liberty that we have won lead all our acts. Let us go forth to plant the tree of liberty, breaking the chains of those of our brothers still held captive under the shameful yoke of slavery. Let us bring them under the compass of our rights, the imperceptible and inalienable rights of free men. [Let us overcome] the barriers that separate nations, and unite the human species into a single brotherhood. We seek only to bring to men the liberty that [God] has given them, and that other men have taken from them only by transgressing His immutable will."

"When the people of St-Domingue first tasted the fruit of liberty that they hold from the equity of France; when to the violent upheavals of the revolution that announced it succeeded the pleasures of tranquility; when finally the rule of law took the place of anarchy under which the unfortunate colony had too long suffered, what fatality can have led the greatest enemy of its prosperity and of our happiness still to dare to threaten us with the return of slavery?"

"For too long, gentlemen by way of abuses that one can never too strongly accuse of having taken place because of our lack of understanding and ignorance - for a very long time, I say - we have been victims of your greed and your avarice. Under the blows of your barbarous whip we have accumulated for you the treasures you this colony; the human race has suffered to see with what barbarity you have treated men like yourself..."

"The Czech people has never had any sensitivity to current affairs. They were always prepared to defend the stale and unviable. In the Middle Ages, they wanted to reform the moribund Western Gothic with the Hussite movement. In the Great War, they lapsed into a primitive Slavophile doctrine and then they began to throw in their lot with morally putrid Western democracy."

"The king lay down not to sleep, he lay down to dream."

"Lugalbanda is wise and he achieves mighty exploits. In preparation of the sweet celestial cakes he added carefulness to carefulness."

"Let the power of running be in my thighs, let me never grow tired! Let there be strength in my arms, let me stretch my arms wide, let my arms never become weak! Moving like the sunlight, like Inana, like the seven storms, those of Iškur, let me leap like a flame, blaze like lightning! Let me go wherever I look to, set foot wherever I cast my glance, reach wherever my heart desires and let me loosen my shoes in whatever place my heart has named to me! When Utu lets me reach Kulaba my city, let him who curses me have no joy thereof; let him who wishes to strive with me never say "Just let him come!" I shall have the woodcarvers fashion statues of you, and you will be breathtaking to look upon. Your name will be made famous thereby in Sumer and will redound to the credit of the temples of the great gods."

"Anzud flew on high, Lugalbanda walked on the ground. The bird, looking from above, spies the troops. Lugalbanda, looking from below, spies the dust that the troops have stirred up."

"King whom one cannot reach in the distant sky! Suen whom one cannot reach in the distant sky! King who loves justice, who hates evil! Suen who loves justice, who hates evil! Justice brings joy justly to your heart."

"Utu, shepherd of the land, father of the black-headed, when you go to sleep, the people go to sleep with you; youth Utu, when you rise, the people rise with you."

"Come now, my Lugalbanda. I shall give you some advice: may my advice be heeded. I shall say words to you: bear them in mind."