Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related FFQ: Need a reference for a quote

Who said:

I thought it was from one general on the allied side to one general from the German side during WWII. But I tried googling it and couldn't find it (found the quote, just not who said it). And since I've learned from experience that you guys know everything, I thought I'd ask here.

ML

I also googled... and came up with this. What can I say? I couldn't resist a challenge!

Journal of a Seasoned COBRA Veteran by Keith Pille

Look under June 11, 1987.

In fact, I came across four separate web pages, but the text on all four appears to be the same. Now, whether Pille actually came up with the quote, himself, or whether this is someone else's quote, and he hasn't attributed it, I don't know. Certainly, the writing style of the quote you picked out seems slightly at odds with the rest of this journal entry. <Shrugs.>

Happy hunting!

Chris

I was just going to post exactly the same answer as Chris. I used two different search engines, and came up with this answer both times. So I guess that Keith Pille would be your best answer. (But I agree with Chris that the style of the quote seems at odds with the rest of the journal. I can imagine Lord Nelson speaking of Napoleon like this.)

Ann

You know, it's funny. I've tried Bartlett\'s Quotations , Answers.com , Google, and, in a fit of desperation, Wikipedia. Then I went back to Google, found this page , and I checked all those sources.

All I could find was... the thing I see Chris has just posted about. A bit of GI Joe fic.

You could email the author (there's a link at the top of the fic) and ask him.

Or... the only other reference I found was that Napoleon said something about Sir John Moore, an English general, being the only foe worthy of his steel. The original quote may well have been in French, which would explain why it's so difficult to pin it down in English. (I tried Googling some of the key words in French, but I'm not turning up anything useful. I think it'd take someone with more knowledge of the language than my rusty, decade-old, high school proficiency.)

Yeah, it's weird. I tried every search engine available, and the COBRA page mentioned above was the only reference any of them found.

Yet, as Chris says, it does sound as though this guy has just used the quote without attributing it, rather than it being his. It just doesn't sound right within the context of the rest of the text.

I was just about to suggest what Paul did - emailing this guy and asking him where it came from, see if you get a response. It's the only thing I can think of, anyway.

LabRat

I just wrote to the guy doing the journal. He wrote back to tell me that it was Churchill talking about General Erwin Rommel.

Thanks for the suggestion. I knew I could count on you guys.

ML

Wow - excellent result!



How odd though that if that's the source it's nowhere to be found on the search engines.

LabRat

Hmm. Looking up "Churchill Rommel" I can find a similar quote:

"We have a very daring and skillful opponent against us, and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great General."

Same idea and structure, but different phrasing.

Wonder where your phrasing came from.

After I got the reply to my email, I went to my library and pulled out the books Churchill wrote about WWII. After I shook all the dust out of my hair (caused when I took the book from its resting place), I found the same quote you did, Paul. It was said by Churchill about Rommel in the House of Commons in 1942.

And yet, in my mind, the phrasing is the one I gave you before. Maybe Churchill said something similar on more than one occasion.

ML