What is you favorite Historical quote?

Question

from any historical figure, any country, and era.

mine is:
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will shrink from the service of his country.........Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered."
Thomas Paine; from his series of pamphlets, The Crisis.
(Thomas Paine was a US revolutionary Patriot.)

when i say historical figure, i dont mean an actor!

Answer 1

I find really interesting many of the things Albert Einstein has said. One of my favorites is:

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

I am really afraid that this is true.

Answer 2

This is not the most inspiring quote but I like it for its strength.

Greek Ally fearfully says: "The Persians have enough Arrows to block out the sun"
Spartan replies " Good! we will have the battle in the shade".

Plutarch: On Spartan Sayings
The Spartan was one of three hundred who fought the army of Xerses (c 100,000) to the last man (Persia won- but Sparta fought bravely) at Thermopylae. The length of the pass made this possible, the didnt fight them all at once!

To me this quote shows resiliance, the ability for brave men (or foolish) to look death in the face and smile back at it. Its not especially revolutionary or noble but the simplicity of Spartan rhetoric is designed to convey meaning rather than elegant words. It is what made them immortal and I have not come across a quote I liked better, plus its straight to the point without any poetic elegance.

This has to be another favourite one

"I would rather betray the world than have the world betray me" - Luo GuanZhong - The Romance of theThree Kingdoms

Tsao Tsao soon to be Primeminister of the Han Dynasty, fleeing for his life. You have to admire his honesty and the lack of tact.

Answer 3

"Of course we're after Iraq.. eh.. Saddam Hussein.. I mean bin Laden."
- George W. Bush

"This administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and Al Qaeda."
- George W. Bush flip flopping

I don't think our troops should be used for what's called nation building."
- George W. Bush, 2000

"We will be changing the regime of Iraq for the good of the iraqi people."
- George W. Bush

Answer 4

See the sad thing about guys like you is in fifty years your gonna come to the fact that thier are two cirtianties in life, one, don't do that and, two, you dropped a hundred grand on a ******' education you could have got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library.

Matt Damon Good Will Hunting

Answer 5

Two very different ones come to mind:

Winston Churchill, during the Battle of Britain and speaking of the RAF, "Never have so many owed so much to so few".

Sinclair Lewis, sometime in the 1930's, "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."

Answer 6

I rather be the first man in a barbarian village than the second man in Rome. Gaius Julius Caesar
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever. Napoleon Bonaparte
Vae victus(Woe to the Vanquished). Brennus, Gallic chieftain

Answer 7

My great uncle, Thomas Dungle, explorer, philanthropist, and raconteur, is famous in this part of the world for his pithy observations.
"Trust is a five letter word. So is plank. Both carry a lot of weight"

Answer 8

In Latin:
"Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum."

In English:
"Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system."
-Cicero

Answer 9

From H.L. Mencken:

You'll never go broke under-estimating the taste of the American public.

Answer 10

Well, it's not really my favorite, per se, but it's one of the more true quotes I've ever heard:

"One death is a tragedy. A thousand deaths is a statistic." -Josef Stalin.