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Be an example to your men, in your duty and in private life. Never spare yourself, and let the troops see that you don't in your endurance of fatigue and privation. Always be tactful and well-mannered and teach your subordinates to do the same. Avoid excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide.
Erwin Rommel
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A risk is a chance you take; if it fails you can recover. A gamble is a chance taken; if it fails, recovery is impossible.
Erwin Rommel
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War makes extremely heavy demands on the soldier's strength and nerves. For this reason, make heavy demands on your men in peacetime exercises.
Erwin Rommel
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I didn't die nor win.
Erwin Rommel
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Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas.
Erwin Rommel
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To every man of us, Tobruk was a symbol of British resistance and we were now going to finish with it for good.
Erwin Rommel
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It is often possible to decide the issue of a battle merely by making an unexpected shift of one's main weight.
Erwin Rommel
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Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, but brains saves both.
Erwin Rommel
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The enemy must be annihilated before he reaches our main battlefield. We must stop him in the water, destroying all his equipment while it is still afloat!
Erwin Rommel
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Good soldiers, bad officers; however don't forget that without them we would not have any Civilization.
Erwin Rommel
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I would rather he had given me one more division.
Erwin Rommel
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One of the most important factors, not only in military matters but in life as a whole, is ... the ability to direct one's whole energies towards the fulfillment of a particular task.
Erwin Rommel
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There is one unalterable difference between a soldier and a civilian: the civilian never does more than he is paid to do.
Erwin Rommel
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The future battle on the ground will be preceded by battle in the air. This will determine which of the contestants has to suffer operational and tactical disadvantages and be forced throughout the battle into adoption compromise solutions.
Erwin Rommel
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The peril of the hour moved the British to tremendous exertions, just as always in a moment of extreme danger things can be done which had previously been thought impossible. Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas.
Erwin Rommel
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He Hitler seemed very depressed and upset about the Stalingrad disaster. He said that one is always liable to look on the black side of things after a defeat, a tendency which can lead one into dangerous and false conclusions.
Erwin Rommel
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In a man-to-man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in his magazine.
Erwin Rommel
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When there's no clear option, it's better to do nothing.
Erwin Rommel
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Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning.
Erwin Rommel
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Always in a moment of extreme danger things can be done which had previously been thought impossible.
Erwin Rommel
