“It has always been the particular forte of German leadership to grant wide scope to the self-dependence of subordinate commanders - to allot them tasks which leave the method of execution to the discretion of the individual. From time immemorial - certainly since the elder Moltke's day - this principle has distinguished Germany's military leadership from that of other armies.”
Describing Mission Command, Lost Victories, The Winter Campaign In South Russia
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Erich von Manstein 8
German general 1887–1973Related quotes

Quoted in Nineteen Stars: A Study in Military Character & Leadership, (CA: Presidio, 1971), by Edgar F. Puryear, Jr.— in answer to the question of whether leaders are born or made posed by author

To Leon Goldensohn, June 8, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004

Later life
Source: Speech in Queen's Hall, Langham Place (14 October 1924) opening the Liberal Party's election campaign, quoted in The Times (15 October 1924), p. 10

Quoted in "Forgotten Battles: Italy's War of Liberation, 1943-1945" - Page 50 - by Charles T. O'Reilly - History - 2001

Michael Gove and Theresa May head five-way Conservative race https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36671336, BBC News, 30 June 2016
2016

"Order reigns in Berlin", Last written words. Collected Works 4 <!-- p. 536 -->
Context: The leadership has failed. Even so, the leadership can and must be recreated from the masses and out of the masses. The masses are the decisive element, they are the rock on which the final victory of the revolution will be built. The masses were on the heights; they have developed this 'defeat' into one of the historical defeats which are the pride and strength of international socialism. And that is why the future victory will bloom from this 'defeat'.
'Order reigns in Berlin!' You stupid henchmen! Your 'order' is built on sand. Tomorrow the revolution will already 'raise itself with a rattle' and announce with fanfare, to your terror: I was, I am, I will be!

“From time immemorial the mistletoe has been the object of superstitious veneration in Europe.”
Source: The Golden Bough (1890), Chapter 65, Balder and the Mistletoe.

“Always the leadership has the responsibility”
As he said to epsilontv(6 May 2018)
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxBnQ_il6ik