To every man of us, Tobruk was a symbol of British resistance and we were now going to finish with it for good.

Which would your men rather be, tired, or dead?

He [Hitler] seemed very depressed and upset about the Stalingrad disaster. He said that one is always liable to look on the black side of things after a defeat, a tendency which can lead one into dangerous and false conclusions.

Men are basically smart or dumb and lazy or ambitious. The dumb and ambitious ones are dangerous and I get rid of them. The dumb and lazy ones I give mundane duties. The smart ambitious ones I put on my staff. The smart and lazy ones I make my commanders.

But courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity, or, if it is insisted upon by a commander, irresponsibility.

Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning.

The enemy must be annihilated before he reaches our main battlefield. We must stop him in the water, destroying all his equipment while it is still afloat!