WWII Quotes?

Question

I'm looking for some quotes about WWII, either a good site or a favorite of yours. Thank you very much.

Answer 1

This is my favorite. Winston Churchill said, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Perhaps his quotes are the most famous ones from WWII.

You may find these links interesting. Best of luck.

Answer 2

*the "Nuts!" has GOT to be my favorite one too.
*I have always liked Patton's speech that included
Honor is letting the other guy die for his country.
*Churchill's "Never ... have so many owed so much to so few" when talking about the Battle of Britain between the Luftwaffe and RAF. The few were the Allied pilots.
*We all know FDR's "December 7th, 1941. A date which will live in infamy" about the attack on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii.
*Gen Douglas MacArthur's "I shall return" when he left the Philippines vowing to take them back.
*Japanese Emperor Hirohito's "It seems a great tragedy has happened here" when looking over the aftermath of the bomb at Hiroshima.

*And one last one:
When informed the device had been used while in a cafeteria at Princeton, meaning the atomic bomb had been dropped, Einstein's only quiet,stunned reply was, "Oh, Weh!" (Oh my God!)

Answer 3

"Never in the field of military operations were so few commanded by so many"
Major-General D. Taylor of the D-Day landings

"...if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science"
Sir Leonard Winston Spencer Churchill

"Herr Hitler assures us he is coming. We are waiting anxiously for the German army to attempt the Channel -- and so are the fishes"
Same

"If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons"
Same, on his readiness to cooperate with anyone as long as they fight Hitler

Of course:
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few"
Same, of the pilots of the Fighter Command who were defending Britain against the Luftwaffe

"The world will hold its breath"
A. Hitler on the coming attack against Soviet Russian

"Mr. Churchill ought perhaps for once to believe me when I prophesy that a great empire will be destroyed -- an empire which it was never my intention to destroy or even to harm"
Same, on the planned operation Sealion, the invasion of Britain

"This means the end of Germany"
Canaris, head of the Abwher (military intelligence), on learning that the order to attack Poland was given

Answer 4

I like that "Nuts" quote, too.

On D-Day, after the Allies secured a beachhead in Normandy, Winston Churchill said:

"This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Answer 5

Hi Mandi - here are some great ones:

"The atom bomb was no 'great decision.' . . . It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness."
-President Harry Truman

"Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt

"It is the function of the Navy to carry the war to the enemy so that it will not be fought on U.S. soil."
- Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet

"This is a fight between a free world and a slave world."
- Vice President Henry A. Wallace

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"Americans love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle."
-General George S. Patton, Jr.

"Goddam it, you'll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!"
- Captain Henry P. "Jim" Crowe (Guadalcanal, January 13, 1943)

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

"I shall return."
- General Douglas Macarthur, Supreme Allied Commander of South-West Pacific (speaking about the Philippines, when he was forced to retreat to Austrailia, 1942)

"I have returned."
- General Douglas Macarthur, Supreme Allied Commander of South-West Pacific (at the Philippines, 1944)

"United in this determination and with unshakable faith in the cause for which we fight, we will, with God's help, go forward to our greatest victory."
- General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1944)

And my two favorites:
"Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world, and that God will preserve it always."
- General Douglas Macarthur, Supreme Allied Commander of South-West Pacific (1945) Amen.

and

"We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand, of overwhelming power on the other."
- G.C. Marshall, Chief of Staff

They were indeed the "Great Generation".

Answer 6

'Nuts.'

--General Anthony McAuliffe, Commanding Officer of American forces defending Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, to the Commanding Officer of the German armies besieging the city.

Answer 7

Loose lips sink ships. Damn the torpedoes. Sink the Bismark.
To let you know of a few.

Answer 8

FDR: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Also very partial to Churchills 'We Will Fight' speech. Great inspiration.

The 'Nuts' reply from the Battle of the Bulge is excellent, too.

'Damn the torpedos' is from the Spanish/American war.

Answer 9

"I shall return"
Gen. Douglas MacArthur said upon his departure from the Philipines Campaign.

Answer 10

"This is a fight between a free world and a slave world."
- Vice President Henry A. Wallace

The goal of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his