Józef Piłsudski quotes

Józef Piłsudski was a Polish statesman, military leader, and a key figure in the restoration of Poland’s independence after World War I. As the Chief of State and later Marshal of Poland, he shaped the country’s politics and military from 1918 to the early 1930s. He is remembered as a national hero and a founding father of modern Poland. Here are 15 of his quotes:

Comrades, I took the red tram of socialism to the stop called Independence, and that's where I got off. You may keep on to the final stop if you wish, but from now on let's address each other 'Mister' [rather than continue using the socialist term of address, 'Comrade']!

Józef Piłsudski

Bolshevism is a disease which is peculiar to Russia. It will never grow deep roots in any countries which are not entirely Russian.

Józef Piłsudski

Only the sword now carries any weight in the balance for the destiny of a nation.

Józef Piłsudski

(About Poland) A great nation, only the people are cunts.

Józef Piłsudski

To want to, is to be able to.

Józef Piłsudski

(About Russians) They are all more or less disguised imperialists, including revolutionists. The trait of these minds, always longing for the absolute, is a vivid centralism. They loathe varieties, cannot conciliate dissonances - such things dull their will and imagination to the extent that they cannot combine varieties into one whole; they reject even the idea of conscious social organizations. [...] Let everything happen by itself, vividly - that is the wisest solution according to them, because it is the simplest and the easiest. Which is why there are so many anarchists among them. A strange thing, but I have never met any republicans among Russians!

Józef Piłsudski

I am not going to dictate to you what you write about my life and work. I only ask that you not make me out to be a 'whiner and sentimentalist.

Józef Piłsudski

Poland can have nothing to do with the restoration of the old Russia. Anything rather than that – even Bolshevism.

Józef Piłsudski

You, the Poles, have a funny nature. When the people going along the road are attacked by a dog with its insistent and noisy barking, you immediately feel like jumping off the vehicle, standing on all fours and starting to bark back at it. We, in the Vilnius region, let the dog bark because that is what its canine nature is like but we do not stop out journey because of its canine barking and without any war against dogs we calmly continue our journey until we reach our destination. It seems that you care more about barking more than the dog does and about winning the war with any lousy puppy than about reaching the destination quickly.

Józef Piłsudski

There can be no independent Poland without an independent Ukraine.

Józef Piłsudski

Comrades, I took the red tram of socialism to the stop called Independence, and that's where I got off. You may keep on to the final stop if you wish, but from now on let's address each other 'Mister'

Józef Piłsudski

Józef Piłsudski will remain in the memory of our nation as the founder of independence and as the victorious leader who fended off a foreign assault that threatened the whole of Europe and its civilization. Józef Piłsudski served his country well, and has entered our history forever.

Józef Piłsudski

Who doesn't respect and value his past, is not worth the honour of the present, and has no right to a future.

Józef Piłsudski