"Blood alone moves the wheels of history."
- Benito Mussolini, Fascist Dictator

"Three cheers for war, noble and beautiful above all."
- Benito Mussolini, Fascist Dictator

"[The Fuehrer] is one of those lonely men of the ages on whom history is not tested, but who themselves are the makers of history."
- Benito Mussolini, Fascist Dictator (1937)

"These men are not made of the same stuff as the Francis Drakes and the other magnificent adventurers who created the Empire. These, after all, are the tired sons of a long line of rich men, and they will lose their Empire."
- Benito Mussolini, Fascist Dictator (speaking about the British in a private conversation after the Munich Agreement)

"The army is in a pitiful state. Even the defense of our frontier is insufficient. He has made thirty-two inspctions and is convinced that the French can go through it with great ease. The officers of the Italian Army are not qualified for the job, and our equipment is old and obsolete."
- Count Galeazzo Ciano, Foreign Minister (quoting Victor Emmanuel III, the King of Italy)

"War between the plutocratic, self-seeking conservative nations [was] inevitable. [But] Italy requires a period of preparation which may extend until the end of 1942... Only from 1943 onward will an effort by war have the greatest prospects of success. Italy needs a period of peace... For all these reasons Italy does not wish to hasten a European war, although she is convinced of the inevitability of such a war."
- Benito Mussolini, Fascist Dictator (1939)

"...war alone brings up to their highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon a people who have the courage to meet it. War is to man what maternity is to woman. I do not believe in peace, but I find it depressing and a negation of all human virtues of man".
- Benito Mussolini, Fascist Dictator

"Mussolini is quite humiliated because our troops have not moved a step forward. Even today they have not succeeded in advancing and have halted in front of the first French fortification which put up some resistance."
- Count Galeazzo Ciano, Foreign Minister (written in his diary on June 21, 1940)

"Fuehrer, we are on the march! Victorious Italian troops crossed the Greco-Albanian frontier at dawn today!"
- Benito Mussolini, Fascist Dictator (October 28, 1941)

"My dear Duce, it's no longer any good. Italy has gone to bits... The soldiers don't want to fight any more... At this moment you are the most hated man in Italy..."
- King Victor Emmanuel III (1943)

"I've had my fill of Hitler. These conferences called by a ringing of a bell are not to my liking; the bell is rung when people call their servants. And besides, what kind of conferences are these? For five hours I am forced to listen to a monologue which is quite fruitless and boring."
- Benito Mussolini, Fascist Dictator (To his son in law on June 10th, 1941) [summitted by J. Stout]

"The war goes on, but against Germany. For this war there is one means - popular insurrection."
- Tancredi Galimberti, a member of the underground Action Party in Italy