Notes from willwaddell

Notable Quotations (in no discernable order)

Polemos pater panton. – Heraclitus

Silent enim leges inter arma – Cicero

History is the school of princes. – Frederick the Great

Ora et labora. – St. Benedict

Facito aliquid operis, ut te semper diabolus inveniat occupatum. – St. Jerome

In war all that is useful is legitimate. – Napoleon

The first qualification of a soldier is fortitude under fatigue and privation; courage is only the second. – Napoleon

_To choose the right moment is the great art of men … _ – Napoleon

You do not get peace by shouting: Peace! Peace is a meaningless word; what we need is a glorious peace. – Napoleon

Comment voulez-vous gouverner un pays qui a deux cent quarante-six variétés de fromage! – de Gaulle

In war, then, let our great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns. – Sun Tzu

Discipline begets abundance, and abundance, unless we take the utmost care, destroys discipline; and discipline in its fall pulls down abundance. – Medieval Monastic Proverb

Um richtig dumm daherreden zu können, muss man schon akademisch gebildet sein. – Erwin Rommel

The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are right. – Mark Twain.

Wer nicht liebt Wein, Weiber und Gesang, der bleibt ein Narr sein Lebelang. – Martin Luther (maybe)

I could catch a monkey. If I was starving I could. I’d make poison darts out of the poison of the deadly frogs. One milligram of that poison can kill a monkey. Or a man. Prick yourself and you’d be dead within a day. Or longer. Different frogs, different times. – Gareth Keenan, The Office

Je weniger die Leute davon wissen, wie Würste und Gesetze gemacht werden, desto besser schlafen sie. – Otto von Bismarck

Goodness without wisdom always accomplishes evil. – Robert A. Heinlein

One finds in the history books that many more armies perished through lack of food and lack of order than through enemy action … – Cardinal Richelieu, Testament politique

The modern knower may be compared to an inebriate who, as he senses his loss of balance, endeavors to save himself by fixing tenaciously upon certain details and thus affords the familiar exhibition of positiveness and arbitrariness. With the world around him beginning to heave, he grasps at something that will come within a limited perception. – Richard Weaver

Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant. – Tacitus

Military historians are like deaf people who go on answering questions that no one has asked them. – Leo Tolstoy

Sweet is war to him who knows it not, but to those who have made a trial of it, it is a thing of fear. – Pindar

Nothing is rarer than the perfect cavalry general. The qualities required are of so varied a nature and are so rarely met with in the same person that they seem to be mutually antogonistic. There must be, first of all, a sure and ready coup d’oeil, a rapid and energetic decision, which must not exclude prudence; for an error, a fault committed on commencing a movement is irreparable owing to the short time required for performing it. – Auguste Marmont, Marshal of France

Objections to dogmatism are always dogmatic, and relativisms are always asserted absolutely. – Gordon Haddon Clark

Qui ne risque rien, n’attrappe rien. – Napoleon

Le vrai moyen d’être trompé, c’est de se croire plus fin que les autres. – La Rochefoucauld

There has been, and is now, hardly any army that regarded itself and understood itself to be purely a political instrument, a lancet for the diplomatic surgeon. – Albrecht Graf von Roon

L’épée n’a de valeur qu’au service de la pensée. – Prince Eugene of Savoy

Caedite eos! Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius. – Arnauld Amaury, Abbot of Cîteaux

Der Krieg ist also ein Akt der Gewalt, um den Gegner zur Erfüllung unseres Willens zu zwingen. – Carl von Clausewitz

Was du ererbt von Deinen Vätern hast, erwirb es, um es zu besitzen. – Goethe

Mes amis, si j’avance, suivez-moi! Si je recule, tuez-moi! Si je meurs, vengez-moi! – Henri du Vergier, comte de la Rochejaquelein

On s’engage et puis on voit. – Napoleon

I must make one admission, and any admission is formidable. The deterrent does not cover the case of lunatics or dictators in the mood of Hitler when he found himself in his final dug-out. That is a blank. – Winston Churchill

When is war not war? When it is fought by methods of barbarism … – Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman

You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you. – Leon Trotsky

_Alles Handeln im Kriege ist, wie wir schon gesagt haben, nur auf wahrscheinliche, nicht auf gewisse Erfolge gerichtet … _ Carl von Clausewitz

War without fire is as worthless as sausages without mustard. – Henry V (maybe)

For in war it’s experience of action that matters. The so-called ‘Seven Military Classics’ are full of nonsense about water and fire, lucky omens and advice on the weather, all at random and contradicting each other. I told my officials once that if you followed these books, you’d never win a battle … All one needs is an inflexible will and careful planning. – The Kangxi emperor

wirst derhalben die ganze Welt mit Butzen und Stiel ausrotten müssen, wenn du anders strafen wilt. – Simplicissimus

Semi-Educational Online Games

Geography Game: Europe
Geography Game: Africa
Geography Game: Asia
Geography Game: South America
Geography Game: Middle East
Geography Game: Canada
Geography Game: United States
Geography Game: Chinese Provinces
Geography Game: U.S. State Capitals

Some of the Greatest Movies of All Time

The Final Sacrifice
"Manos" The Hands of Fate

Hobgoblins – especially if you like cars parking and Basque Separatist Rock.

Recommended Eateries by City

Minocqua, WI – Paul Bunyan’s Cook Shanty. Stop in for breakfast.

Paris – Le Luxembourg

(This is a work in progress. More eateries to come.)

WikiBacon

If you really have too much time on your hands, try out WikiBacon. It’s a fairly simple game, but one that may tax your knowledge of relationships very quicky. The object of the game is to arrive at the wikipedia page for Kevin Bacon as quickly as possible.
The rules are simple:

1. Begin at a preselected wiki page generally unrelated to Kevin Bacon (see below list for some good starters)
2. You must navigate to Kevin Bacon’s wiki page only by clicking on links within the article.
3. You may not type any words into the search engine or depart from wikipedia
4. You may use your browser’s back arrow only once.

Starter page suggestions

Industrial Revolution
Germanic Languages
Polar Bear
Solar System
John Graham, 1st Count of Dundee
Alamanac

It’s best to race someone, if you can. Also, you can always make the List of years in film page off-limits, if that’s making it too easy.

Books without ISBNs

Yorck and the Era of Prussian Reform, 1807-1815 by Peter Paret
… more to come.