Benito mussolini quotes

Believe, obey, fight.

It is humiliating to remain with our hands folded while others write history. It matters little who wins.

Youth is a malady of which one becomes cured a little every day.

Thirty centuries of history allow us to look with supreme pity on certain doctrines which are preached beyond the Alps by the descendants of those who were illiterate when Rome had Caesar, Virgil, and Augustus.

Yes, a dictator can be loved. Provided that the masses fear him at the same time. The crowd love strong men. The crowd is like a woman.

Democratic regimes may be defined as those in which, every now and then, the people are given the illusion of being sovereign, while the true sovereignty in actual fact resides in other forces which are sometimes irresponsible and secret.

Liberty is no longer the virgin, chaste and severe, to be fought for ... we have buried the putrid corpse of liberty ... the Italian people are a race of sheep.

Italy, wants peace and quiet, work and calm. I will give these things with love if possible and with force if necessary.

Our future lies to the east and south, in Asia and Africa.

One moment on the battlefield is worth a thousand years of peace.

I've had my fill of Hitler. These conferences called by the ringing of a bell are not to my liking. The bell is rung when people call their servants. And besides, what kind of conferences are these? For five hours I am forced to listen to a monologue which is quite fruitless and boring

Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity, quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace.

There is no revolution that can change the nature of man

Religion is man-made to assist in controlling the weak minded individuals because during times of atrocity and despair they feel strength in numbers.

Our program is simple: we wish to govern Italy. They ask us for programs but there are already too many. It is not programs that are wanting for the salvation of Italy but men and will power.

What is freedom? There is no such thing as absolute freedom!

It is not impossible to rule Italians, but it would be useless.

Fascism is definitely and absolutely opposed to the doctrines of liberalism, both in the political and economic sphere.

Three cheers for the war. Three cheers for Italy's war and three cheers for war in general. Peace is hence absurd or rather a pause in war.

Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived in their relation to the State.

The Italian proletariat needs a blood bath for it force to be renewed.

War is to man what maternity is to a woman

We do not argue with those who disagree with us, we destroy them.

What is liberty? There is no such thing as absolute liberty!

People are tired of liberty. They have had a surfeit of it. Liberty is no longer a chaste and austere virgin.... Today's youth are moved by other slogans...Order, Hierarchy, Discipline.

The Mediterranean will be turned into an Italian lake.

Liberty is a duty, not a right.

If two irreconcilable elements are struggling with each other, the solution lies in force. There has never been any other solution in history, and there never will be.

Speeches made to the people are essential to the arousing of enthusiasm for a war.

What the proletariat needs is a bath of blood.

War is to man what motherhood is to a woman. From a philosophical and doctrinal viewpoint, I do not believe in perpetual peace.

The Fascist accepts life and loves it, knowing nothing of and despising suicide; he rather conceives of life as duty and struggle and conquest, life which should be high and full, lived for oneself, but not above all for others those who are at hand and those who are far distant, contemporaries, and those who will come after.

The mass, whether it be a crowd or an army, is vile.

It's good to trust others but, not to do so is much better.

Fortunately the Italian people is not habituated to eating several times a day.

Let us have a dagger between our teeth, a bomb in our hands and an infinite scorn in our hearts.

Silence is the only answer you should give to the fools. Where ignorance speaks, intelligence should not give advices.

Fascist education is moral, physical, social, and military: it aims to create a complete and harmoniously developed human, a fascist one according to our views.

The State, in fact, as the universal ethical will, is the creator of right.

The League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out.

Given that the nineteenth century was the century of Socialism, of Liberalism, and of Democracy, it does not necessarily follow that the twentieth century must also be a century of Socialism, Liberalism and Democracy: political doctrines pass, but humanity remains, and it may rather be expected that this will be a century of authority ... a century of Fascism. For if the nineteenth century was a century of individualism it may be expected that this will be the century of collectivism and hence the century of the State.

War is the normal state of the people.

There is the great, silent, continuous struggle: the struggle between the State and the Individual; between the State which demands and the individual who attempts to evade such demands. Because the individual, left to himself, unless he be a saint or hero, always refuses to pay taxes, obey laws, or go to war.

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.

I should be pleased, I suppose, that Hitler has carried out a revolution on our lines. But they are Germans. So they will end by ruining our idea.

Fascism recognises the real needs which gave rise to socialism and trade-unionism, giving them due weight in the guild or corporative system in which diverent interests are coordinated and harmonised in the unity of the State.

We become strong, I feel, when we have no friends upon whom to lean, or to look to for moral guidance.

Fascism is not an article for export.

All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.

We deny your internationalism, because it is a luxury which only the upper classes can afford.

If only we can give them faith that mountains can be moved, they will accept the illusion that mountains are moveable, and thus an illusion may become reality.

We affirm that the true story of capitalism is now beginning, because capitalism is not a system of oppression only, but is also a selection of values, a coordination of hierarchies, a more amply developed sense of individual responsibility.

For my part I prefer fifty thousand rifles to five million votes.

If relativism signifies contempt for fixed categories and those who claim to be the bearers of objective immortal truth, then there is nothing more relativistic than Fascist attitudes and activity. From the fact that all ideologies are of equal value, we Fascists conclude that we have the right to create our own ideology and to enforce it with all the energy of which we are capable.

Fascism accepts the individual only insofar as his interests coincide with the state's.

I owe most to Georges Sorel. This master of syndicalism by his rough theories of revolutionary tactics has contributed most to form the discipline, energy and power of the fascist cohorts.

We have buried the putrid corpse of liberty...

Democracy is a kingless regime infested by many kings who are sometimes more exclusive, tyrannical and destructive than one, even if he be a tyrant.

I want to make my own life a masterpiece.

The working people are bound to their native shores.

As regards the Liberal doctrines, the attitude of Fascism is one of absolute opposition both in the political and in the economical field.

Three cheers for war, noble and beautiful above all.

It was only one life. What is one life in the affairs of a state?

At every hour of every day, I can tell you on which page of which book each school child in Italy is studying.

The struggle between the two worlds [Fascism and Democracy] can permit no compromises. It's either Us or Them!

Lenin is an artist who has worked men, as other artists have worked marble or metals. But men are harder than stone and less malleable than iron. There is no masterpiece. The artist has failed. The task was superior to his capacities.

Peace is absurd: Fascism does not believe in it.

Race? It is a feeling, not a reality. Ninety-five per cent, at least. Nothing will ever make me believe that biologically pure races can be shown to exist today.... National pride has no need of the delirium of race.

Statesman only talk of fate when they have blundered

Fascism is a religious concept.

This is the epitaph I want on my tomb: Here lies one of the most intelligent animals who ever appeared on the face of the earth.

For the Fascist, everything is the State, and nothing human or spiritual exists, much less has value, outside the State. In this sense Fascism is totalitarian.

The best blood will at some time get into a fool or a mosquito.

The measures adopted to restore public order are: First of all, the elimination of the so-called subversive elements. ... They were elements of disorder and subversion. On the morrow of each conflict I gave the categorical order to confiscate the largest possible number of weapons of every sort and kind. This confiscation, which continues with the utmost energy, has given satisfactory results.

If the 19th [century] was the century of the individual (liberalism means individualism), you may consider that this is the "collective" century, and therefore the century of the state.

Every anarchist is a baffled dictator.

Against individualism, the Fascist conception is for the State... Liberalism denied the State in the interests of the particular individual; Fascism reaffirms the State as the true reality of the individual.

The God of the theologians is the creation of their empty heads.

Fascism is a religion. The twentieth century will be known in history as the century of Fascism.

The Fascist State lays claim to rule in the economic field no less than in others; it makes its action felt throughout the length and breadth of the country by means of its corporate, social, and educational institutions, and all the political, economic, and spiritual forces of the nation, organised in their respective associations, circulate within the State.

Fascism, in so far as it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism - born of a renunciation of struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the people who have the courage to meet it.

The Fascist conception of the State is all-embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism is totalitarian, and the Fascist State -- a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values -- interprets, develops, and potentiates the whole life of a people.

If I advance; follow me. If I retreat; kill me. If I die; avenge me! It is better to live one day as a lion than one-hundred years as a sheep!

On the morrow of each conflict I gave the categorical order to confiscate the largest possible number of weapons of every sort and kind.

The state reserves the right to be the sole interpreter of the needs of society.

I have been a racist since 1921. I don't know how they can think I'm imitating Hitler.

There is a violence that liberates, and a violence that enslaves; there is a violence that is moral and a violence that is immoral.

Fortunately the Italian people has not yet accustomed itself to eat many times a day, and possessing a modest level of living, it feels deficiency and suffering less.

Journalism is not a profession, but a mission.

War alone brings up to their highest tension all human energies and imposes the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to make it.

The corporate State considers that private enterprise in the sphere of production is the most effective and useful instrument in the interest of the nation. In view of the fact that private organisation of production is a function of national concern, the organiser of the enterprise is responsible to the State for the direction given to production.

Family - see Fascist State.

Tomorrow, the Tripartite Pact will become an instrument of just peace between the peoples. Italians! Once more arise and be worthy of this historical hour! We shall win.

The keystone of the Fascist doctrine is its conception of the State, of its essence, its functions, and its aims. For Fascism the State is absolute, individuals and groups relative.

Fascism entirely agrees with Mr. Maynard Keynes, despite the latter's prominent position as a Liberal. In fact, Mr. Keynes' excellent little book, The End of Laissez-Faire (1926) might, so far as it goes, serve as a useful introduction to fascist economics. There is scarcely anything to object to in it and there is much to applaud.

I am desperately Italian. I believe in the function of Latinity.

The Socialists ask what is our program? Our program is to smash the heads of the Socialists.

For us the national flag is a rag to be planted on a dunghill. There are only two fatherlands in the world: that of the exploited and that of the exploiters.

The truth is that men are tired of liberty.

Yet if anyone cares to read over the now crumbling minutes giving an account of the meetings at which the Italian Fasci di Combattimento were founded, he will find not a doctrine but a series of pointers... It may be objected that this program implies a return to the guilds (corporazioni). No matter!... I therefore hope this assembly will accept the economic claims advanced by national syndicalism.

State intervention in economic production arises only when private initiative is lacking or insufficient, or when the political interests of the State are involved. This intervention may take the form of control, assistance or direct management.

The function of a citizen and a soldier are inseparable.

The fascist state is the corporate state.

The struggle between the two worlds [Fascism and Democracy] can permit no compromises. The new cycle which begins with the ninth year of the Fascist regime places the alternative in even greater relief either we or they, either their ideas or ours, either our State or theirs!

We must give Italians a sense of race.

Better to live a day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep

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

The history of saints is mainly the history of insane people.

The Government has been compelled to levy taxes which unavoidably hit large sections of the population. The Italian people are disciplined, silent and calm, they work and know that there is a Government which governs, and know, above all, that if this Government hits cruelly certain sections of the Italian people, it does not so out of caprice, but from the supreme necessity of national order.

Blood alone literally moves the wheels of history.

Socialism is a fraud, a comedy, a phantom, a blackmail.

Fascism is a religious conception in which man is seen in his immanent relationship with a superior law and with an objective Will that transcends the particular individual.

It is the State which educates its citizens in civic virtue, gives them a consciousness of their mission and welds them into unity.

I am not a collector of deserts!

It is my conviction that in time of war, when the cannon speaks with its powerful voice, the less we speak the better.

If you acquit me, you will give me great pleasure. If you condemn me you will do me honour!

The fate of nations is intimately bound up with their powers of reproduction. All nations and all empires first felt decadence gnawing at them when their birth rate fell off.

Fuehrer, we are on the march! Victorious Italian troops crossed the Greco-Albanian frontier at dawn today!

Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy.

State ownership! It leads only to absurd and monstrous conclusions; state ownership means state monopoly, concentrated in the hands of one party and its adherents, and that state brings only ruin and bankruptcy to all.

Democracy is talking itself to death. The people do not know what they want; they do not know what is the best for them. There is too much foolishness, too much lost motion. I have stopped the talk and the nonsense. I am a man of action. Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. You in America will see that some day.

You know what I think about violence. For me it is profoundly moral -more moral than compromises and transactions.

[The Fuhrer] is one of those lonely men of the ages on whom history is not tested, but who themselves are the makers of history.

The Liberal State is a mask behind which there is no face; it is a scaffolding behind which there is no building.

Italian journalism is free because it serves one cause and one purpose... mine!