Quote#Wisdom
You [recruits] have sworn loyalty to me. You have only one enemy and…
Quote byWilhelm II · 1859–1941
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Speech (23 November 1891), quoted in Michael Balfour, The Kaiser and His Times (London: Penguin, 1975), p. 158.
English (original)
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 my orders without a murmur.
— Wilhelm II
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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.
I regard every Social Democrat as an enemy of the Empire and Fatherland.
The soldier and the army, not Parliamentary majorities and decisions, have welded the German Empire together. I put my trust in the army.
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 a breed of men who do not deserve the name of Germans. I trust that the entire nation will find the strength to beat back their outrageous attacks. If that does not occur, I shall have to call on you, my Guards, for protection …