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Giuseppe Garibaldi Quotes

Giuseppe Garibaldi
  • Mini Bio
  • Name: Giuseppe Garibaldi
  • Born: 4th July 1807, Nice, First French Empire
  • Died: 2nd June 1882, Caprera, Kingdom of Italy
  • Resting place: Garibaldi Family Cemetery - Caprera, Provincia di Olbia-Tempio, Sardegna, Italy
  • Occupation: General, nationalist and freedom fighter
  • Political affiliations: Young Italy (1831–1848), Action Party (1848–1867), Historical Left (1867–1877) and Extreme Left (1877–1882)

"Necessity does not submit to debate"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"My dear Victor Hugo, The title you assigned to me in Bordeaux is sufficient for a whole existence devoted to the sacred cause of humanity, of which you are the first apostle"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"I can offer you neither honours nor wages; I offer you hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. Anyone who loves his country, follow me"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"Posterity will call you the great emancipator, a more enviable title than any crown could be, and greater than any merely mundane treasure"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"Yesterday I said to you: war to the death to Bonaparte. Today I say to you: rescue the French Republic by every means"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"The slave shall show at last to his free brothers a sharpened sword forged from the links of his fetters"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"Here we either make Italy, or we die"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"The papacy, being the most harmful of all secret societies, ought to be abolished"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"Rome or death"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"The day the peasants will be educated in the truth, tyrants and slaves will be impossible on earth"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"A bold onset is half the battle"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"Man created God, not God, man"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"Free from the Alps to the Adriatic"

Giuseppe Garibaldi

"Obbedisco! (I obey!)"

Giuseppe Garibaldi
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Giuseppe Garibaldi Biography

Giuseppe Garibaldi is renowned as a national hero in Italy and respected around the world for his freedom fighting against oppressive regimes in Europe and South America. A charismatic leader of men he is also considered one of the greatest generals of his era. Garibaldi was looked upon by many as a mercenary but one thing is certain and that is his ability to lead men as he did from the front during the bayonet charges at the battles of Calatafimi and Volturno.

In the face of daunting odds he could inspire his armies by his bravery as a warrior because he led by example. He would never ask his men to do anything he was not prepared to do himself and he was also a master tactician in the theatre of war as his victories grew in tandem with his reputation as a soldier and general.

Before leading his revolutionary battles in Italy Garibaldi was a freedom fighter in the Ragamuffin War with a band of warriors in Brazil and then fighting for independence in what is now known as Uruguay. Indeed Garibaldi was later given the nickname "The Hero Of Two Worlds" for his freedom fighting in Latin America, France and Italy.

In the early stages of the American Civil War President Abraham Lincoln was looking for competent generals and through intermediaries offered Garibaldi a position in the Union army, although he seriously considered joining they could not agree terms and it was not to be.

Not just skilled in the field of battle he was also an able seaman and captained many ships on numerous voyages whilst back on terrafirma he was the founder of the Red Shirts with his followers known as the Thousand Red Shirts. Although not involved directly in the final unification of Italy his contribution is widely acknowledged as significant to paving the way to liberation.

As a humble and revolutionary leader he has cemented his place in Italian history and he was also good for a few one liners so here is my compilation of 15 of the best Giuseppe Garibaldi quotes.

Quotes About Giuseppe Garibaldi

Alexandre Dumas was moved to say: "A man who defends his own country or attacks another is no more than a soldier. But he, who adopts some other country as his own and makes offer of his sword and his blood, is more than a soldier, he is a hero"

Victor Hugo said in an impassioned speech to the Bordeaux assembly: "The powers, as I have said, have not intervened; well, one man intervened, and this man is a power. His sword had already liberated a people and could save another. He thought it, he came, he fought and, of all the French generals engaged in this war, he was the only one who was not defeated! I demand the validation of Garibaldi's election"

The eminent writer George Sand sensed the greatness: "He is not like anyone else and there is in him a kind of mystery that calls for reflection. All Europe looks to him obsessively and wakes in the morning to ask where he is and what he did the previous day"

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