Jozef Pilsudski (1867 – 1935)
Polish revolutionary and statesman, marshal, first chief of state (1918–1922) and authoritarian leader (1926–1935) of renascent Poland, and founder of her armed forces.
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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.
Whoever had the choice, would choose an eagle's nest on the cliffs in place of a home. May he know how to sleep, though his eyes be red from the thunder, and listen to the cries of the wild spirits in the murmur of the pines.
Only the sword now carries any weight in the balance for the destiny of a nation.
To want to, is to be able to.
[H]e was king of our hearts and ruler of our will. Through half a century of his life’s travails, he took into his possession heart after heart, soul after soul, until he had drawn the whole of Poland under the purple of his royal spirit.[...] He gave Poland freedom, boundaries, power and respect.
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.'
Bolshevism is a disease which is peculiar to Russia. It will never grow deep roots in any countries which are not entirely Russian.
Poland can have nothing to do with the restoration of the old Russia. Anything rather than that – even Bolshevism.
To be defeated and not submit, is victory; to be victorious and rest on one's laurels, is defeat.
He was the only great man to emerge on the scene during the [First World] war.
All that we can gain in the west depends on the Entente — on the extent to which it may wish to squeeze Germany, [while in the east] there are doors that open and close, and it depends on who forces them open and how far.
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