Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Mussolini, fully Benito Amilcare Andrea, aka Iron Prefect Mussolini

Italian Prime Minister, Fascist Dictator, Journalist

"Everything is possible, including the impossible."

"Against individualism, the Fascist conception is for the State; and it is for the individual in so far as he coincides with the State.... Fascism is for liberty... the only liberty which can be a real thing, the liberty of the State and of the individual within the State."

"A horrible sexual degenerate [Adolf Hitler]."

"A nation of spaghetti eaters cannot restore Roman civilization!"

"Above all, Fascism, in so far as it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism ? born of a renunciation of struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the people who have the courage to meet it. All other trials are substitutes, which never really put a man in front of himself in the alternative of life and death."

"All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state."

"At every hour of every day, I can tell you on which page of which book each school child in Italy is studying."

"Believe, obey, fight."

"Better to live a day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep."

"Blood alone moves the wheels of history."

"Democracy is a kingless regime infested by many kings who are sometimes more exclusive, tyrannical and destructive than one, if he be a tyrant."

"Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. You in America will see that someday."

"Democracy is talking itself to death. The people do not know what they want; they do not know what is the best for them. There is too much foolishness, too much lost motion. I have stopped the talk and the nonsense. I am a man of action. Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. You in America will see that someday."

"Dictators lose any sense of balance as they pursue their obsessive ambitions into a world of unreality."

"Every anarchist is a baffled dictator"

"Everyone thinks that fascists aren't worth anything, but we are here to commemorate them."

"Everything I have said and done in these last years is relativism by intuition. If relativism signifies contempt for fixed categories and those who claim to be the bearers of objective immortal truth ... then there is nothing more relativistic than Fascist attitudes and activity... From the fact that all ideologies are of equal value, that all ideologies are mere fictions, the modern relativist infers that everybody has the right to create for himself his own ideology and to attempt to enforce it with all the energy of which he is capable."

"Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived in their relation to the State."

"Fascism is a religion. The twentieth century will be known in history as the century of Fascism."

"Fascism is a religious conception in which man is seen in his immanent relationship with a superior law and with an objective Will that transcends the particular individual."

"Fascism is definitely and absolutely opposed to the doctrines of liberalism, both in the political and economic sphere."

"Fascism is not an article for export."

"Fascism recognizes the real needs which gave rise to socialism and trade-unionism, giving them due weight in the guild or corporative system in which divergent interests are coordinated and harmonized in the unity of the State."

"Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power."

"Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism -- born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it. All other trials are substitutes, which never really put men into the position where they have to make the great decision -- the alternative of life or death..."

"Fascist education is moral, physical, social, and military: it aims to create a complete and harmoniously developed human, a fascist one according to our views."

"For my part I prefer fifty thousand rifles to fifty thousand votes"

"For us the national flag is a rag to be planted on a dunghill. There are only two fatherlands in the world: that of the exploited and that of the exploiters."

"Fortunately the Italian people has not yet accustomed itself to eat many times a day, and possessing a modest level of living, it feels deficiency and suffering less."

"Fortunately the Italian people is not habituated to eating several times a day."

"Given that the nineteenth century was the century of Socialism, of Liberalism, and of Democracy, it does not necessarily follow that the twentieth century must also be a century of Socialism, Liberalism and Democracy: political doctrines pass, but humanity remains, and it may rather be expected that this will be a century of authority ... a century of Fascism. For if the nineteenth century was a century of individualism it may be expected that this will be the century of collectivism and hence the century of the State."

"I absolutely refuse to believe that the Italian people are of a moral fiber inferior to that of the English people, or to that of the Russian people. And if this were true, we should definitely have to give up our hopes of becoming a great people."

"I am desperately Italian. I believe in the function of Latinity."

"I am making superhuman efforts to educate this people. When they have learnt to obey, they will believe what I tell them."

"I am not a collector of deserts!"

"I challenged the world and it proved too strong for me; I despised other men and they are taking their revenge."

"I do not intend to defend capitalism or capitalists. They, like everything human, have their defects. I only say their possibilities of usefulness are not ended. Capitalism has borne the monstrous burden of the war and today still has the strength to shoulder the burdens of peace. ... It is not simply and solely an accumulation of wealth, it is an elaboration, a selection, a co-ordination of values which is the work of centuries. ... Many think, and I myself am one of them, that capitalism is scarcely at the beginning of its story. ? Benito Mussolini"

"I don't like the look of him."

"I owe most to Georges Sorel. This master of syndicalism by his rough theories of revolutionary tactics has contributed most to form the discipline, energy and power of the fascist cohorts."

"I shall make my own life a masterpiece."

"I will tell you something which will amaze you, a paradox, perhaps a heresy. Well, I would like to see fewer statues in Italy; fewer pictures in the museums and more banners won from the enemy."

"If I advance, follow me! If I retreat, cut me down! If I die, avenge me!"

"If only we can give them faith that mountains can be moved, they will accept the illusion that mountains are moveable, and thus an illusion may become reality."

"If relativism signifies contempt for fixed categories and those who claim to be the bearers of objective immortal truth, then there is nothing more relativistic than Fascist attitudes and activity. From the fact that all ideologies are of equal value, we Fascists conclude that we have the right to create our own ideology and to enforce it with all the energy of which we are capable."

"If the 19th [century] was the century of the individual (liberalism means individualism), you may consider that this is the "collective" century, and therefore the century of the state."

"Inactivity is death."

"It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep."

"It is humiliating to remain with our hands folded while others write history. It matters little who wins. To make a people great it is necessary to send them to battle even if you have to kick them in the pants. That is what I shall do."

"It is not impossible to govern Italians; it is merely useless"

"It is the State which educates its citizens in civic virtue, gives them a consciousness of their mission and welds them into unity"