Erwin Rommel Quotes: Wisdom from the Desert Fox
Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, but brains saves both.
In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it.
Don’t fight a battle if you don’t gain anything by winning.
Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.
War makes extremely heavy demands on the soldier?s strength and nerves. For this reason, make heavy demands on your men in peacetime exercises.
Anyone who has to fight, even with the most modern weapons, against an enemy in complete command of the air, fights like a savage against modern European troops, under the same handicaps and with the same chances of success.
The german soldier has astonished the world, the Italian Bersagliere has astonished the German soldier.
It is often possible to decide the issue of a day by small margins.+-
The future battle on the ground will be preceded by battle in the air.
The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.
No plan of operations extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy’s main strength.
Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted.
In a man-to-man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in his magazine.
The art of concentrating strength at one point, forcing a breakthrough, rolling up and securing the flanks on either side, and then penetrating like lightning deep into his rear, before the enemy has time to react.
In the absence of orders, find something and kill it.
Don’t fight a battle if you don’t gain anything by winning.
In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it.
Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, but brains save both.
A soldier’s most powerful weapon is courage.
The first rule of war is to do what you can with what you have, where you are, and right now.
Time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted.
War makes thieves and peace hangs them.
In war the soldier is the first casualty.
Believe in yourself, and on such belief a man stakes his life.
One cannot permit unique opportunities to slip by for the sake of trifles.
There’s no such thing as impossible in war. Only degrees of difficulty.
Intelligence, knowledge, and experience are trump cards and should be played accordingly.
It is not enough to say ‘I will do my best’. You must succeed in doing that which is necessary.
Courage can’t be taught, it?s something one is born with.
War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory. Please note that some of these quotes may not directly be from Erwin Rommel, but are commonly attributed to him or align with his strategies and philosophies.
In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it.
One cannot permit unique opportunities to slip by for the sake of trifles.
Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, but brains saves both.
Don’t fight a battle if you don’t gain anything by winning.
It’s not about the battle you lose, it’s about the war you win.
Courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity, or, if it is insisted upon by a commander, irresponsibility.
Any commander who fails to exceed his authority is not of much use to his subordinates.
The best form of welfare for the troops is first-class training.
The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.
In a man-to-man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in his magazine.
Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas.
Victory is for those who can say Victory is mine. Success is not the destination, it’s the journey.
Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy.