Frederick the Great
Frederick II of Prussia
King of Prussia (1740–86)
Lived: 1712–86
"By push of bayonets, no firing until you see the whites in their eyes!"
- Frederick the Great, at Prague, 1757
"Without supplies no army is brave"
- Frederick the great, "Instructions to his Generals" 1747
"Rascals, do you want to live forever?"
(Ihr Racker, wollt ihr ewig leben?)
- Frederick the Great, 1757.
When the guards hesitated at the battle of Kolin.
"A defensive war is apt to betray us into too frequent detachment. Those
generals who have had but little experience attempt to protect every point,
while those who are better acquainted with their profession, having only
the capital object in view, guard against a decisive blow, and acquiesce in
small misfortunes to avoid greater."
- Frederick the Great
"The most certain way of insuring victory is to march briskly and in good
order against the enemy, always endeavoring to gain ground."
-Frederick the Great
"It is your attitude, and the suspicion that you are maturing the boldest
designs against him, that imposes on your enemy."
- Frederick the Great
"I am up and about when I am ill, and in the most appalling weather. I am on
horseback when other men would be flat out on their beds, complaining. We
are made for action, and activity is the sovereign remedy for all physical ills."
- Frederick the Great
"Everything which the enemy least expects will succeed the best."
- Frederick the Great ("Instructions to his Generals")
