Honor Quotes
The “old” writing to which he was referring was a quotation from Roman Poet Horace. See {589060}.
See {640847}, {640845} & {640846}. The capitalization is exactly as Adams wrote it. Note the omission of a capital letter for “congress” for whom he and many others had little respect even then.
There is a corollary to this proverb, that frequently reflects itself in Arab culture. It is that one who is not strong must never concede. To concede out of strength is manly and noble. To concede out of weakness is cowardly and base. Middle Eastern International politics is totally irrational to Westerners when a badly defeated country of group will often not even meet with the victors to discuss peace or terms of surrender. It is the victors only who can make concessions without losing dignity and respect.
Battle was the grandson of a Revolutionary war soldier and the son of a former slave. He was the first person inducted into the New York City Police Force when it was first organized after the consolidation of the boroughs in 1898. He became the first Black Police Sargent and the first Black Lieutenant of the city and was probably the only Black senior police officer in the country at that time.
The Muslims conquered Spain and controlled it to one extent or another for 600 years.
This quotation was used by the Siemens Corporation to thank award-winning Federal civil servants who had received the Service to America Medal.
The Nazis and most of the Arabs were allies in WWII. The Jews of Palestine—although they were opposed to many of the British policies regarding Palestine—were active in the Allied cause contributing units to the British Army. Although the Germans were brutal to civilians, murdering millions, they refrained from public pronouncements or exhortations to kill civilians in most cases. The Arabs did not. The Mufti was actually given the rank of General in the Nazi SS and had his own SS unit. In this despicable exhortation he actually uses a concept and wording from the Koran. See {584355}. This quotation is important in that it refutes a common claim by some Palestinians that it was only the Germans who were responsible for the Holocaust and the post war Jewish Refugee problem and that the Palestinians had to bear the price rather than place Israel in Europe. This quotation and the other by the Grand Mufti prove that Palestinians were not only complicit in persecution of Jews but took a leadership and advocacy role.
Ataturk was a young major at the time commanding troops of a weak and corrupt Ottoman regime. However a combined English and French (the strongest military powers in Europe) invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula threatened to capture the Turkish capital, Constantinople. Ataturk alone rallied the Turkish defenders and fought the invaders to a standoff in long drawn out battle with huge casualties on both sides. Ataturk became a national hero. Although Ataturk thereafter was very reluctant to use military force or endanger troops, the thing he always thought worth the supreme sacrifice (including his own) was the independence and sovereignty of the nation. See {584502} for his continuing belief in this type of sacrifice.
Often cited as a Japanese Proverb, however, there is no evidence of its general use. The quote can be traced to Georges Maget, a French Naval doctor in the 1870’s – see the article link in the citation. Magets reference to “black blood” is likely rooted in the French historical slang “sang noir,” which was used to describe non-noble blood.
Executed by the English for his part in the Easter Uprising.
Patton, though a great leader and fighting general, also was almost crazy and irrational at times. This quotation illustrates one of those periods. Somehow, most of the officers and enlisted men under his command were generally able to distinguish and live with him. In this case, no one tried to ferret out the cowards and kill them despite the Generals exhortation. Also, his—and other people’s notion that bravery is genetically inherited is scientifically incorrect.
