Erwin Rommel Quotes

38 quotes in 462 categories

• Which would your men rather be, tired, or dead?
• To every man of us, Tobruk was a symbol of British resistance and we were now going to finish with it for good.
• The battle is going very heavily against us. We're being crushed by the enemy weight. We are facing very difficult days, perhaps the most difficult…
• The commander must be at constant pains to keep his troops abreast of all the latest tactical experience and developments, and must insist on their…
• In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it.
• Always in a moment of extreme danger things can be done which had previously been thought impossible.
• The peril of the hour moved the British to tremendous exertions, just as always in a moment of extreme danger things can be done which…
• The battle is fought and decided by the quartermasters, long before the shooting begins.
• One must not judge everyone in the world by his qualities as a soldier: otherwise we should have no civilization.
• No plan survives contact with the enemy
• Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas.
• When there's no clear option, it's better to do nothing.
• It is often possible to decide the issue of a battle merely by making an unexpected shift of one's main weight.
• The best form of welfare for the troops is first-rate training.
• There is one unalterable difference between a soldier and a civilian: the civilian never does more than he is paid to do.
• A risk is a chance you take; if it fails you can recover. A gamble is a chance taken; if it fails, recovery is impossible.
• Men are basically smart or dumb and lazy or ambitious. The dumb and ambitious ones are dangerous and I get rid of them. The dumb…
• Messages can't be intercepted if they aren't sent, can they?
• Training errors are recorded on paper. Tactical errors are etched in stone.
• The German soldier has impressed the world, however the Italian Bersagliere soldier has impressed the German soldier.

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