Unforgettable quotes about Poland and Poles from Polish and world`s history and culture

This isn`t another riddle solving thread. Let`s recall what interesting things were once said about Poland or Poles Sources don`t matter - they can be known people, books, literature, politics, words of wisdom, etc.

So, why don`t we provide the quote and a few words of explanation? No pics are necessary.

Let`s start with something mild and then let the tension slowly rise, as Hitchcock once suggested about his films. :)

Marshall Piłsudski, who immensely contributed to Poland`s regaining independence in 1918, after a few years of being a political leader, said: Poles are a great nation, only people are w...res. He meant his political opponents, especially radical nationalists who constanty attacked and hurled mud at him.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Pi%C5%82sudski

Dmowski, himself a Polish patriot, would remain Piłsudski's political archenemy to the end of Piłsudski's life.

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Both are remembered for being giants in Polish history.

I attended a formal Polish fundraising event a few years ago and the tables were named after famous icons of Polish history such as Kopernik, Chopin, Curie, Mickiewicz as well as some more contemporary ones like Milosz and Szymborska (but not Polanski of course).

It was a great way to promote and educate others about Poland and each table had cards giving a biography and notable accomplishments of these famous Poles to both Polish and world history and culture.

The person in charge of seating also ensured there was a cross cultural exchange. Musicians would be assigned to other than the Chopin table. Authors would be assigned to the Kopernik table. And a gaggle of rabbis and other shameless Zionists were assigned to the Dmowski table. :)

And ever since their death, those two coffins rule over Poland ... the coffin of Piłsudski and the coffin of Dmowski ... (and it is felt on this forum, too).

Other quotes by Piłsudski on Poland and Poles:

1. Polska to obwarzanek: kresy urodzajne, centrum - nic [sorry, the version in Polish only as I don't know the English word for "obwarzanek"].
2. Racja jest jak dupa - każdy ma swoją [Pawian is kindly requested to translate this into English].

Rabbies and Zionists at an official Polish fundraising event??? :):) That must have looked funny, indeed.

As for Dmowski and Piłsudski, they both appeared in our school 100 years` independence anniversary exhibition last year.


Poland is like a bagel - Prolific Kresy/ Eastern Borderlands, nothing in the centre.


Why me? On Sunday? After the mass? :)

No picture for 'dupa', but here is one of an 'obwarzanek':

Is it as funny as you promoting Zionism and your Philo-Semitism on PolishForums all the time? :)

I am a free man, I can promote anything what I like. Just like you, can`t we? :):)

But, did you intentionally prefer to overlook my allusive remark about what rabbies where doing at an official Polonia event? Because it is a mystery to me and I suspect you made it up in order to promote your raging antisemitism again. :):)


Isn`t it funny you mentioned Chopin who was half French and in that way you promote diversity which you so vehemently object to in other threads ?? :):):)

Back to topic
Another quote: some historians claim it is a legend what general commander Kościuszko said after getting wounded at the battle of Maciejowice 1794 which meant the end of Insurrection against Russians who occupied Poland. Finis Poloniae! It`s the end of Poland.

Indeed, which suggest he was looking into a mirror while uttering that BS.


Which is a tripe made up by a Polish émigré Giedroic who was a political idiot although he was a very cultivated aristocrat.

It is Funny that tripe had been picked up in Poland and revitalized by some half-witted and brainwashed lost souls. What I didn't know that that tripe is evidently still alive in some circles in Poland. Sad.

To make it very clear political debate and issues in Poland has very little to do with those men who are long dead.


There is an English version - opinions are like ass - holes everybody has one.

Not funny at all. In fact, Chopin presents another teaching moment for you.

He didn't stick around in Poland did he? He maintained and preferred his French roots.

So indeed Chopin's life is exactly the "genuine diversity" which I have been talking about and which you still can't comprehend.

Chopin knew and maintained his French culture, language, customs and traditions. So much so that he easily made France his home later in life.

You, on the other hand, are the one who has been promoting only "racial diversity" with the bigoted view that other races either don't have their own culture, language, customs and traditions or if they do they are inferior to you and need to be replaced by those native to Poland.

Yes, we do realise you support Dmowski and reject Piłudski. Two coffins tripe rules you, too, my dear. :)


No, rabbies and Zionists at Polonia event are funny and you need to elaborate more because we like such real life comedies. Please, don`t make us wait.

Back to topic.

A runner-up candidate to the Polish poetic Hall of Fame, Juliusz Słowacki, in his bitter poem "Agamemnon`s Grave," 1839, critisizes Poles of the partitions era for indolence, passiveness, cowardice, petty quarrels, stupidity etc.

He also suggests that Poland was a peacock and parrot of nations, and as long as it continues, Poles will never regain independence. Peacock means a propensity for showing off, while parrrot is copying from others.

wolnelektury.pl/katalog/lektura/grob-agamemnona.html

Hey they are dead, have been for years... I' don't support zombies if that what you suggest. Don't be absurd.

Mikołaj Rej is considered a founding father of Polish literature.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miko%C5%82aj_Rej

Mikołaj Rej( 1505- 1569) was a Polish poet and prose writer of the emerging Renaissance in Poland as it succeeded the Middle Ages, as well as a politician and musician. He was the first Polish author to write exclusively in the Polish language, and is considered to be one of the founders of Polish literary language and literature.

His most famous quote is

Let it by all and sundry foreign nations be known
that Poles speak not Anserine* but a tongue of their own.

* goose like

That is simply not true. He preferred his Polish roots and the music he wrote was Polish to the core. Even in France he is considered Polish.

He was just a Polish emigré in France. One of many there who spoke perfect French since such people were taught this language as children at home by French baby-sitters. I myself met someone who went from Poland to France in the 1960s for the first time in his life at the age of about 60 and he was being taken for a Frenchman by French people in Paris. The reason was that he grew up in a Polish aristocratic family in Humań, near Kiev, which family employed a governess from France plus his mother usually talked to him in French (both parents were Polish).

The fact that Chopin was genetically half-French is pretty irrelevant to the Polishness he felt in him.

There were thousands of them,and not just from the upper classes.
Many Poles came to France between the wars to work in the mines.
To this day you will find many Polish sunames all over eastern France from the Pas de Calais to Alsace.....most of them have little Polish culture and don't speak Polish but they are Polish descendants.

Funny, but did you know that Nietzsche, German philosopher, openly denied his German origin and claimed he was Polish? :) I was in two minds whether to mention it in "What do Poles owe to Germans" thread.... :) After all, an additional philosopher might be useful for Polish purposes...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche

Nietzsche believed his ancestors were Polish,[105] at least toward the end of his life. He wore a signet ring bearing the Radwan coat of arms, traceable back to Polish nobility of medieval times[106] and the surname "Nicki" of the Polish noble (szlachta) family bearing that coat of arms. Nietzsche wrote in 1888, "My ancestors were Polish noblemen (Nietzky); the type seems to have been well preserved despite three generations of German mothers." He said: "I am a pure-blooded Polish nobleman, without a single drop of bad blood, certainly not German blood."

So once he said "Germany is a great nation only because its people have so much Polish blood in their veins ... I am proud of my Polish descent." :)

We are who we think we are, but I think this Polish origin was just a fantasy of his. Is there such a name (Nicki) on the lists of Polish noble surnames? I doubt it.

My contribution to this wonderful thread:
G. K. Chesterton 1922 about Poland:
I judged the Poles by their enemies. And I found it was an almost unfailing - truth that their enemies were the enemies magnanimity and manhood. If a man loved slavery, he loved usury, if he loved terrorism and all the trampled more of materialistic politics, I have always found that he added to these affections the passion of a hatred of Poland. She could be judged in the light of that hatred, and the judgement has proved to be right."

Yes, it was probably his vivid imagination (philosopher!) combined with the need to gain more publicity. Whatever. But Niecki is a noble family surname.


I have a little difficulty understanding it properly. Does it mean Poles were great because their enemies were great too?

No, it's more like: Since the most evil and selfish people hate Poland, then Poland must be good.

To be a Pole does not mean just to speak Polish or to feel close to other Poles, but to value the Polish nation above all else

~ Roman Dmowski, a father of Second Polish Republic and Polish Independence

If only people actually valued the nation that they claim to value.

You forgot to add: one of the fathers. :) Forgetfulness? :)

But why? I've got followers to do it for me :-)

Ok, I can be your loyal follower then. I will remind you about things you overlook in this thread. :)

A few proverbs about Poles (roughly translated):

When two Poles meet, they have three different opinions. I hope you understand it`s about Polish propensity to quarreling.

A Pole is wise after the damage - another Polish trait - initial negligence, then crying over the spilt milk,

A Pole can do it - another Polish trait - skilfulness, intiative, resourcefulness

Pole hungry, Pole angry.

Poles not only blocked a flood of "refugees" into our country but also put a tame to LGBT indoctrination. This shows that this proverb is quickly getting outdated. Indeed, Pole is wise before the damage.

True.
I do not understand this supposed Pole's mentality.....he sounds anti Polish to me.

I am not going to reply to that highly provocative remark. :):) I will only say that we can`t make up proverbs or quotes which don`t exist yet in the language and history of culture. :)

My answer is a saying by Voltaire, a French writer and philosopher, at the times of first partitions of Poland.

One Pole - full charm. Two Poles - a quarrel. Three Poles - wow, a real Polish issue/problem has begun.

All negative posts about Poles from you Pawian.
Are you sure you are Polish?

On a contrary. Proverbs are being made by people and are based on facts and situations that happened in a country.

A modern forms of a folk proverbs are internet memes which often make their way to a common language.

Ok, you are unusually brilliant today, so I won`t object anymore. Let it be. :)
and good night to all..