Józef Piłsudski

"I am not going to dictate to you what you write about my life and work. I only ask that you not make me out to be a whiner and sentimentalist."

"Comrades, I took the red tram of socialism to the stop called Independence, and thats where I got off. You may keep on to the final stop if you wish, but from now on lets address each other Mister [rather than continue using the socialist term of address, Comrade]!"

"All that we can gain in the west depends on the Entente — on the extent to which it may wish to squeeze Germany, [while in the east] there are doors that open and close, and it depends on who forces them open and how far."

"Poland can have nothing to do with the restoration of the old Russia. Anything rather than that – even Bolshevism."

"Only the sword now carries any weight in the balance for the destiny of a nation."

"To be defeated and not submit, is victory; to be victorious and rest on ones laurels, is defeat."

"He was the only great man to emerge on the scene during the [First World] war."

"Bolshevism is a disease which is peculiar to Russia. It will never grow deep roots in any countries which are not entirely Russian."

"Józef Piłsudski will remain in the memory of our nation as the founder of independence and as the victorious leader who fended off a foreign assault that threatened the whole of Europe and its civilization. Józef Piłsudski served his country well, and has entered our history forever."

"[H]e was king of our hearts and ruler of our will. Through half a century of his life’s travails, he took into his possession heart after heart, soul after soul, until he had drawn the whole of Poland under the purple of his royal spirit.[...] He gave Poland freedom, boundaries, power and respect."

"Whoever had the choice, would choose an eagles nest on the cliffs in place of a home. May he know how to sleep, though his eyes be red from the thunder, and listen to the cries of the wild spirits in the murmur of the pines."

"You, the Poles, have a funny nature. When the people going along the road are attacked by a dog with its insistent and noisy barking, you immediately feel like jumping off the vehicle, standing on all fours and starting to bark back at it. We, in the Vilnius region, let the dog bark because that is what its canine nature is like but we do not stop out journey because of its canine barking and without any war against dogs we calmly continue our journey until we reach our destination. It seems that you care more about barking more than the dog does and about winning the war with any lousy puppy than about reaching the destination quickly."