Quote#Books & Reading
The poor French...They have not read their Mahan!
Quote byWilhelm II · 1859–1941
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: On France's diplomatic retreat from war with Britain during the Fashoda Incident (1898), quoted in Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery (London: Penguin, 2004), p. 206.
English (original)
The poor French...They have not read their Mahan!
— Wilhelm II
More from Wilhelm II
The soldier and the army, not Parliamentary majorities and decisions, have welded the German Empire together. I put my trust in the army.
You [recruits] have sworn loyalty to me. You have only one enemy and that is my enemy. In the present social confusion, it may come about that I order you to shoot down your own relatives, brothers or parents but even then you must follow …
I regard every Social Democrat as an enemy of the Empire and Fatherland.
When I have to act or think I always ask myself the question: What does the Bible say in similar circumstances? The Bible is for me a spring whence I draw strength and light.
There is only one person who is master in this Empire and I am not going to tolerate any other.
I am just now not reading but devouring Captain Mahan's book and am trying to learn it by heart. It is a first-class book and classical on all points.