"Best quotes by a living historical character...." Topic

Whether a factual quote or one attributed to them ("My kingdom for a horse!"), what real (as opposed to a fictional) historical figures had the best quotes and what were they?

My top 5 are:
1) "All warfare is based on deception." (Sun Tzu)
2) "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm" (Winston Churchill)
3) "Let him fly that will, for surely I will tarry with him that will tarry with me." (Richard Neville "Warwick" the Kingmaker)
4) "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother" (Henry V)
5) "zehi ni oyobazu…".. which means, "so it goes…" (Oda Nobanaga's alleged last words).

Never interrupt your enemy while he's making a mistake

Boney.

<changed>

I didn't think any of those five were still living or breathing.

My favourite quite by a person not dead yet is probably Gazza Gascoigne's splendid piece of advice for stochastic discrete-event simulationists, "I never make predictions, and I never will."

All the best,

John.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but all your sources are dead, not living.

And if Henry REALLY said that…

2) "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm" (Winston Churchill)

Credited to others too, including George Orwell. One of those 'so good, someone must have said it' quotes.

3) "Let him fly that will, for surely I will tarry with him that will tarry with me." (Richard Neville "Warwick" the Kingmaker)

May be fiction.

4) "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother" (Henry V)

That is fiction. It's Shakespeare putting words into Henry's mouth.

Hold my beer and watch this…

"Some of this trouble just finds me, but most of this trouble I earn." Todd Snider

- Never interrupt your enemy while he's making a mistake

The Iron Duke -

I think that's actually one of Napoleon's best known quotes.

"Credited to others too, including George Orwell. One of those 'so good, someone must have said it' quotes."

Hmm. I've always heard Orwell. Either way, it's one of my favorites.

I think he means by a an actual historical figure, as to opposed to a fictional character. I don't think he means still living.

My favorite would be "Nuts!" by General McAuliffe though I am also partial to "and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one." by Hey-Zeus and I frequently quote that to my wife when she protests my purchase of yet another firearm.

I think he means by a an actual historical figure, as to opposed to a fictional character…I am also partial to "and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one." by Hey-Zeus

I'm sensing a dichotomy

In 1801 in a letter to the Board of Admiralty, St Vincent made the now famous remark:

"I do not say, my Lords, that the French will not come. I say only they will not come by sea."

I believe he was alive at the time.

"I am happy that I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec"

Montcalm

"Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them. "

Napoléon

Not sure if I have it word for word but…

"Far better it is to dare great things than to take rank amoungst those poor, timid souls that know niether victory nor defeat."

T. Roosevelt

Scholars have searched the works of Edmund Burke in vain for "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing". It just ain't there.
So, in the vein and thrust of this thread, I nominate Ned's quote.

"The coldest winter I ever experienced was a summer in San Francisco."

-----------------Samual Clemons ---------------

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but all your sources are dead, not living"

I wrote "living" as opposed to fictional. I figured that was pretty obvious. Shame on me for assuming ;-)

@Connard…you obviously didnt make it past the first line in the poll which in English reads, "Whether a factual quote or one attributed to them".

As to the Churchill quote, see here:
link
There's a good Lad, now I have to turn your comments back to grey for the time being… ;-)

"It's like dejavu all over again".

Why not petition Dear Editor to change the title to "Best quotes attributed to people who never said them?"

Again, whe have a weird topic for a Poll Suggestion. WHY IS IT A POLL SUGGESTION? I have no problem with trolling for neat quotes, but having us vote on them? Why?

"Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?" -Homer Simpson

….no wait…you meant historical not hysterical..nyuk, nyuk, nyuk…(slapping knee)

Mr Churchill! You are drunk;
Yes madam, I am drunk and you are ugly, but I shall be sober in the morning.

I'm sensing a dichotomy

You should have the operation, dichotomy can be cured and your potency sometimes returns too.

"They tried to make me go to rehab, I said no, no, no."

"After the battle my head is at His Majesty's disposal, but for now I will use it in his service" Von Ziethen (I think).

"Flanks are for the other guy to worry about." Patton

"We're not retreating. We're attacking in the other direction." Chesty Puller

"The die is cast." Gaius Julius Caesar

"It is with artillery that war is made." Napoleon

"We are not amused." Queen Victoria

@ Plynkes, You didn't miss her by much.

An armed society is a polite society.
Robert Heinlein

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Theodore Roosevelt

'Do what thou wilt, shall be the whole of the law' Aleister Crowley.

Doesn't apply at TMP, obviously.

"I drank what?" – Socrates

"WHY IS IT A POLL SUGGESTION? I have no problem with trolling for neat quotes, but having us vote on them?"

Why simply to get your goat…mission accomplished!

I'm sorry John, you're right, I should leave Poll Topics to the professionals at TMP so that we can have gems like these to look forward to:
TMP link

Grant to Lincoln: "Pull my finger." He really said it. I read it in an Osprey book.

Charles James Napier for "Peccavi."

Likewise Napier for "Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs."

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,
--Emerson

"It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy. The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that? There is nothing the British do not have. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops."

--Hermann Göring

For World War Two gamers who play the Allies and think it unfair that the Jerries always get the best toys.

"I spent 90% of my money on women and booze. The rest I wasted…"

George Best.

"How many is a Brazilian?"

George Bush.

Wait, that was a joke…Sorry.

"Het is niet nodig te hopen om te overwinnen, noch te slagen om te volharden" – William of Orange.

(It isn't necessary to hope in order to win, nor to succeed in order to persevere)

"Oh, for God's sake… get a life, will you?"
William Shatner

I vaguely remember a story from the Korean War about the Turkish Brigade. A unit of theirs was surrounded by the Red Chinese. When the Chinese Commander asked for their surrender in the name of anti-capitalist asian solidarity, blah-blah dialectic etc, the Turkish Commander sent the note back with his answer:

"Thank you for surrounding us. No matter where we go, we get to kill you"

Not sure if that was apocryphal or not.

"Play for more than you can afford to lose and you will learn the game."
Churchill.
A lot of living people are just not that quotable. Maybe you really become quotable after you die. Sort of like being a famous artist.

Aw c'mon who can forget:

"There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!"

"My feelings – as usual – we will slaughter them all"

"Our initial assessment is that they will all die"

Baghdad Bob

And who can forget:

"[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know we know.
We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know…."

hmm, a "living historical character"….

"Charge!!! Oh bad luck old man"

The Brig was definitely a character and as founder of the Sealed Knot, heavily into Living History

"If you come to a fork in the road, take it."

"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."

Yogi Berra

'Zulus – Farsands of 'em'

'Stop chucking those bleedin' spears at me'

Lt Gonville Bromhead VC, 41st Foot (South Wales' Borderers)

(with a little help from Sir Michael Caine, CBE)

Not sure if that was apocryphal or not.

Certainly sounds like a Turkish Officer to me! Terribly keen you know….

My favorite by a living personality would be the 2004 speech by then Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin when he stood up and congratulated Canadian troops for their successful D-day invasion of Norway!

link

Rob.

I heard an alternate translation of Big Julie's quote as 'let the dice fly high'. (From the Colleen McCullock 'first man in rome' series.)
A more poetic and dynamic quote I think

Have to check with Mrs Pumblechook on which translation is better.

Your President is not a crook… Richard M. Nixon.

DAMN! Kyoteblue beat me to it….

"Now is not the time to wobble, George."

Margaret Thatcher to George Bush senior during a moment of presidential hesitation in the prelude to the First Gulf War.

"Duct tape is like the force. It has a dark side, it has a light side, and it holds the universe together." – Carl Zwanig

Rommel tossed a note out of his Fieseler Storch to his tank column commanderRommel who had stopped the column for some reason during the initial push for Benghazi.
"Unless you get going at once, I shall come down. Rommel."