Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
8 quotes
“The time has come to deal the enemy a terrific blow in Western Europe.”
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The frightful casualties appalled me. The so-called "good fighting generals" of the war appeared to me to be those who had a complete disregard for human life. There were of course exceptions and I suppose one such was Plumer; I had only once seen him and had never spoken to him.”
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887–1976) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Memoirs (London: Collins, 1958), p 35.
“Anyone who votes Labour ought to be locked up.”
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887–1976) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at Woodford, Essex, 1959. Quoted in "The Pan Dictionary of Famous Quotations" (1962, revised 1993), edited by Robin Hyman.
“Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: "Do not march on Moscow". Various people have tried it, Napoleon and Hitler, and it is no good. That is the first rule. I do not know whether your Lordships will know Rule 2 of war. It is: "Do not go fighting with your land armies in China". It is a vast country, with no clearly defined objectives.”
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887–1976) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In the House of Lords, 30 May 1962 (Hansard, Col. 227)
“The United States has broken the second rule of war. That is: don't go fighting with your land army on the mainland in Asia. Rule One is, don't march on Moscow. I developed those two rules myself.”
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887–1976) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview, 2 July, 1968; quoted in New York Times, 3 July, 1968, p. 6.
“Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.”
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887–1976) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Undated. Quoted in "Journal of Police Science and Administration, Volumes 3-4", 1975, pg 373.
“There were many reasons why we did not gain complete success at Arnhem. The following in my view were the main ones. First. The operation was not regarded at Supreme Headquarters as the spearhead of a major Allied movement on the northern flank designed to isolate, and finally to occupy, the Ruhr - the one objective in the West which the Germans could not afford to lose. There is no doubt in my mind that Eisenhower always wanted to give priority to the northern thrust and to scale down the southern one. He ordered this to be done, and he thought that it was being done. It was not being done. Second. The airborne forces at Arnhem were dropped too far away from the vital objective - the bridge. It was some hours before they reached it. I take the blame for this mistake. I should have ordered Second Army and 1st Airborne Corps to arrange that at least one complete Parachute Brigade was dropped quite close to the bridge, so that it could have been captured in a matter of minutes and its defence soundly organised with time to spare. I did not do so. Third. The weather. This turned against us after the first day and we could not carry out much of the later airborne programme. But weather is always an uncertain factor, in war and in peace. This uncertainty we all accepted. It could only have been offset, and the operation made a certainty, by allotting additional resources to the project, so that it became an Allied and not merely a British project. Fourth. The 2nd S.S. Panzer Corps was refitting in the Arnhem area, having limped up there after its mauling in Normandy. We knew it was there. But we were wrong in supposing that it could not fight effectively; its battle state was far beyond our expectation. It was quickly brought into action against the 1st Airborne Division.”
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887–1976) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Concerning Operation Market Garden in his autobiography, 'The Memoirs of Field Marshal Montgomery' (1958), pg 296
“The British soldier is second to none in the communities of fighting men. Some may possess more élan, others may be better disciplined; but none excels him in all-round character. We require no training in bravery in Britain; we can trust to our own native manliness to see us through. So it is with the soldier. It is his natural pride which gives him his fighting qualities. How often he has stood firm before tyranny and oppression, the last hope of the free world! In the midst of the noise and confusion of the battlefield, the simple homely figure of the British soldier stands out calm and resolute—dominating all around him with his quiet courage, his humour and his cheerfulness, his unflinching acceptance of the situation. May the ideals for which he has struggled never vanish from the world! May he never be forgotten by the nation for which he has fought so nobly! I know better than most to what heights the British soldier can aspire. His greatness is a measure of the greatness of the British character, and I have seen the quality of our race proved again and again on the battlefield.”
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887–1976) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Memoirs (London: Collins, 1958), pp. 543-544.