World-War-2.org

Famous Quotations

January 1933 - September 1945

"The press of Italy is free, freer than the press of any other country, so long as it supports the regime"

Benito Mussolini - Prime Minister and Duce of Italy - 1935

Welcome to our collection of Famous Quotations from politicians and military commanders from 1933 to 1945. This section offers a glimpse into the minds of the leaders who shaped the course of history during one of the most tumultuous periods of the 20th century. You will find stirring speeches that rallied nations, and poignant reflections on the horrors of war, capturing the essence of the era. Explore the words of figures like Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin to gain a deeper understanding of the motivations, fears, and hopes driving their actions. Whether you're a history enthusiast or simply curious about the past, these quotations will provide valuable insight into the period immediately before and during World War 2.

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Joseph Goebbels

Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
15th March 1933

Quotation Mark

"Propaganda is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. If the means achieves the end then the means is good. The new Ministry has no other aim than to unite the nation behind the ideal of the national revolution."


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Benito Mussolini

Prime Minister and Duce of Italy
1935

Quotation Mark

"The press of Italy is free, freer than the press of any other country, so long as it supports the regime"


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Adolf Hitler

Chancellor and Führer of Germany
12th March 1936

Quotation Mark

"The forty-eight hours after the march into the Rhineland were the most nerve-racking in my life. If the French had then marched into the Rhineland, we would have had to withdraw with our tails between our legs."


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Joseph Stalin

Premier of the Soviet Union

Quotation Mark

"To choose one's victims, to prepare one's plan minutely, to slake an implacable vengeance, and then to go to bed... There is nothing sweeter in the world."


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Adolf Hitler

Chancellor and Führer of Germany
30th May 1938

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"It is my unalterable decision to smash Czechoslovakia by military action in the near future"


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Neville Chamberlain

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
4th July 1938

Quotation Mark

"In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers."


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Maxim Litvinov

Foreign Commissar
Speaking to the League of Nations on 21st September 1938

Quotation Mark

"You, fearing the supposed danger of war, don't put up any resistance to the aggressor and capitulate yourselves, as well as force others to capitulate. We don't want actual war and therefore resist the aggressor and call upon you to do the same. You think that the aggressor can be appeased with things not belonging to you, and that he will spare your factories, your land and your independence. We consider that the aggressor only understands force"


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Adolf Hitler

Chancellor and Führer of Germany
26th September 1938

Quotation Mark

"This is my last territorial demand in Europe"


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Neville Chamberlain

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Speaking to the crowd after exiting his plane on the 30th September 1938

Quotation Mark

"The settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved, is in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace. This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine. Some of you perhaps, have already heard what it contains. But I would just like to read it to you, We, the German Fuhrer and Chancellor, and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today and are agreed in recognizing that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for the two countries and for Europe. We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again. We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe."


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Neville Chamberlain

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Speaking in front of Downing Street on the 30th September 1938

Quotation Mark

"My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time...Go home and get a nice quiet sleep."


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Lord Halifax

United Kingdom Foreign Minister
1937

Quotation Mark

"I often think how much easier the world would have been to manage if Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini had been at Oxford."


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Adolf Hitler

Chancellor and Führer of Germany
Speaking to the Reichstag on the 30th January 1939

Quotation Mark

"I want today to be a prophet again: if international Jewry inside and outside of Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, the result will not be the Bolshevisation of the earth and therefore the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe."


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Adolf Hitler

Chancellor and Führer of Germany
1st September 1939

Quotation Mark

"This night for the first time Polish regular soldiers fired on our own territory. We have now been returning the fire since 5:45 a.m.! Henceforth, bomb will be met with bomb."


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Edouard Daladier

Prime Minister of France
2nd September 1939

Quotation Mark

"If the blood of France and of Germany flows again, as it did twenty-five years ago, in a longer and even more murderous war, each of the two peoples will fight with confidence in its own victory, but the most certain victors will be the forces of destruction and barbarism."


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Neville Chamberlain

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Radio Broadcast to the British People on the 3rd September 1939

Quotation Mark

"I am speaking to you from the cabinet room at 10 Downing Street. This morning the British ambassador in Berlin handed the German government a final note stating that unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany."


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Neville Chamberlain

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Radio Broadcast to the British People on the 3rd September 1939

Quotation Mark

"It is evil things we shall be fighting against, brute force, bad faith, injustice, oppression and persecution."


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Winston Churchill

First Lord of the Admiralty
Speaking to Parliament on the 3rd September 1939

Quotation Mark

"In this solemn hour it is a consolation to recall and to dwell upon our repeated efforts for peace. All have been ill-starred, but all have been faithful and sincere."


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General Mieczysław Smorawiński

Polish Army
17th September 1939

Quotation Mark

"We will fight to the last man, to the last bullet, for our freedom, for our independence."


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Adolf Hitler

Chancellor and Führer of Germany
19th September 1939

Quotation Mark

"Not only you experience this moment with deepest emotion, nay, the entire German nation experiences it with you, and I, too, am aware of the greatness of the hour when I, for the first time, tread on the soil which German settlers occupied five centuries ago and which for five centuries was German, and which henceforth you may rest assured will remain German...."


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William Borah

U.S. Senator
September 1939

Quotation Mark

"There is something phoney about this war."


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Neville Chamberlain

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
October 1939

Quotation Mark

"We have to kill one another just to satisfy that accursed madman."


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Joseph Stalin

Premier of the Soviet Union
1939

Quotation Mark

"Since we cannot move Leningrad ... then we must move the border."


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Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim

Finnish Commander-in-Chief
1st December 1939

Quotation Mark

"We have no other choice but to fight for our independence, for our freedom, and for our homes."


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Winston Churchill

First Lord of the Admiralty
Speaking to Parliament on the 20th January 1940

Quotation Mark

"Finland alone, in danger of death, superb, sublime Finland, shows what free men can do"


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Neville Chamberlain

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
4th April 1940

Quotation Mark

"Whatever reason Hitler had for not making an immediate endeavour to overwhelm us, one thing is certain - he has missed the bus... Those seven months delay have enabled us to remove weaknesses and so enormously add to our fighting strength that the future can be faced with a calm mind"


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Dirk Jan de Geer

Dutch Prime Minister
10th May 1940

Quotation Mark

"We shall resist the aggressor and safeguard our nation's sovereignty"


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King Leopold III

King of Belgium
10th May 1940

Quotation Mark

"Belgium will defend its neutrality and stand firm against any aggression"


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Charles De Gaulle

Leader of Free French Forces
3rd August 1940

Quotation Mark

"France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war."


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Franklin Roosevelt

President of the United States
Speech to Congress on the 6th January 1941

Quotation Mark

"We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job."


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Winston Churchill

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
9th February 1941

Quotation Mark

"We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job."


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Benito Mussolini

Prime Minister and Duce of Italy
23rd February 1941

Quotation Mark

"It is humiliating to remain with our hands folded while others write history. It matters little who wins. To make a people great it is necessary to send them to battle even if you have to kick them in the pants. That is what I shall do."


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Franklin Roosevelt

President of the United States
8th December 1941

Quotation Mark

"Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God."


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Hideki Tojo

Prime Minister of Japan
19th February 1942

Quotation Mark

"Australia and New Zealand are now threatened by the might of the Imperial Japanese forces, and both of them should know that any resistance is futile."


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Adolf Hitler

Chancellor and Führer of Germany
Speech to the Reichstag on the 26th April 1942

Quotation Mark

"This war no longer bears the characteristics of former inter-European conflicts. It is one of those elemental conflicts which usher in a new millennium and which shake the world once in a thousand years."


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