Extraordinary hardships breed extraordinary individuals, and from time to time these people
impart their hopes, fears, and desires in words that resonate throughout history.
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Infographics Show- today we're taking a look
at the most badass quotes in history, part 2.
5.
“Once I knew the depth where no hope was, and darkness lay on the face of all things.
Then love came and set my soul free.”
- Helen Keller
Popularized by the film The Miracle Worker, Helen Keller was an avid American orator and
author- yet this incredible woman who would end up being one of the most prolific activists,
authors and orators of her generation was struck completely deaf and blind at just 19
months old.
For years, Keller lived in a world she described as “being at sea in a dense fog”, unable
to communicate with anyone but the six year old daughter of her family's cook through
a rudimentary sign language of sorts.
At seven years old though her mother, inspired by an account in Charles Dickens' American
Notes of the successful education of another deaf and blind woman, set her daughter on
a path to education which wound up with her introduction to a blind 20 year old student,
Anne Sullivan, who had been successfully taught to communicate at the Perkins Institute for
the Blind.
Describing the day her education began as her “soul's birthday”, Sullivan began
to teach Helen by spelling words onto her hand, starting with d-o-l-l for the doll she'd
just given Keller as a present.
Keller however was extremely frustrated, not understanding that every object had a word
associated with it- remember, she had been only 19 months when struck deaf and blind,
and hadn't even had a chance to begin learning the fundamentals of language.
One day however as Sullivan poured water on her hand spelled out the word water, Keller
connected the two in a moment she described as the mystery of language being revealed
to her.
Incredibly, Keller would go on to become a prolific author, and taught herself how to
speak well enough to regularly give speeches in front of packed audiences.
In a 1905 New York periodical about remaining optimistic, Keller described her life before
learning to communicate thusly: “Once I knew the depth where no hope was, and darkness
lay on the face of all things.
Then love came and set my soul free.”
4.
“If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow, and I won't have to send
another.”
- Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito was the former president of Yugoslavia from 1953 to 1980, but before that
he was a conscript in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, and when World War
II broke out became the leader of one of the most successful partisan movements resisting
Nazi occupation.
While other Western bloc nations owed their freedom from the Nazis to the Russians, Yugoslavia
had largely expelled the Germans on their own, and thus when Tito took the reins of
power for himself, he felt that though he allied with Joseph Stalin's communist views,
he owed little to the Soviet Union, and that Yugoslavia should be free to pursue its own
interests.
Taking a rather dim view of this attitude, Stalin sent assassin after assassin to kill
Tito and thus replace him with someone far more malleable.
Unfortunately for Stalin, his assassins were less than effective, very often being discovered
by Tito's close-knit security team.
Finally, having enough, Tito wrote a letter to Stalin, saying simply:
Stop sending people to kill me.
We've already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle.
If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow, and I won't have to send a
second.
Tito would go on to die in 1980, outliving Stalin by twenty eight years.
3.
“I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over
the mind of man.”
- Thomas Jefferson.
Founding Father of the United States of America, Jefferson was a firebrand and outspoken critic
of the policies of King George, vying for US independence.
With views that were openly and wildly liberal for his time, Jefferson was devoutly religious,
and yet firmly opposed to the clergy, stating that “in every age, the priest has been
hostile to liberty... they have perverted the purest religion ever preached to man into
mystery and jargon.”
He even went so far as to publish his own bible, which contained only the words of Jesus
and the evangelists.
Jefferson's views also extended into slavery- despite being a slave owner himself he advocated
the eventual emancipation of all slaves, and was widely acknowledged as treating his slaves
benevolently, offering them financial incentives, allowing them to build homes and keep their
own chickens and crops.
His slaves enjoyed time off during the winter months and he gave them Sundays and Christmas
off, while forbidding whippings except only in extreme cases of fighting or stealing.
Unfortunately, Jefferson's views on blacks were firmly lodged in the popular opinion
of the day which said that blacks were mentally and physically inferior, thus he thought that
slaves would need an adjustment period before being set free so they could best integrate
into society.
However, Jefferson warned that for the nation's continued use of slaves they would one day
have to answer to God himself- a prediction that came true during the American Civil War,
the bloodiest conflict in US history.
2.
“Go fuck yourself.”
General Paul Emil Von Lettow-Vorbeck, German Army
There are few military men as great as the General Paul Emil Von Lettow-Vorbeck, who
during World War I fought against the British Empire in East Africa.
Recruiting black Swahili soldiers to fight against the British who had subjugated and
exploited them for generations, General Lettow-Vorbeck ran one of history's most successful guerilla
campaigns and was never defeated- only surrendering to the British upon learning of the Armistice
in November 1918.
The General was known to live a warrior's code of chivalry, honor, respect for one's
enemies, and humanitarian treatment for his men and civilians alike.
At a time when other nations viewed black soldiers as inferior and disposable, General
von Lettow-Vorbeck treated his black soldiers no different than his white soldiers, even
promoting those worthy into officers.
After surrendering to the British, the General refused to yield the field of battle until
receiving assurances of decent treatment and early release for his black troops- not just
the white ones.
Returning to Germany a war hero, he brought some of his black officers with him to serve
in the German Freikorps, while campaigning a conservative opposition to the Nazis, whom
he saw as morally inferior and hate mongerers.
When Hitler offered him an ambassadorship to the Court of St. James in 1935, the old
General responded, “Go fuck yourself.”
Outliving Hitler, the General died at the age of 93 in 1964, and the West German government
flew in two of his former Askari soldiers as state guests so they could attend the funeral
of their beloved General, who had never stopped campaigning for their welfare even until his
death.
A few months later, the West German army voted to deliver back pay to the surviving 350 Askaris
still living in Africa.
1.
“A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Born in 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister who quickly became
a prominent activist during America's civil rights era.
Inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi, King
preached that only nonviolence could win out over injustice, and only love could defeat
hatred.
Yet while most of America was firmly on his side, the South was far more reluctant to
join his enlightened views, and King was the subject of numerous death threats.
Asked if he was afraid of losing his life because of his outspoken activism, Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. replied, “A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.”
Unfortunately, King would prove that he was a man who lived up this own ideals, and refused
to back down even after death threats against him and his family grew in intensity.
Assassinated on April 4th 1968 in Memphis Tennessee, his death turned him into a global
icon and martyr, and inspired his followers to pursue the dream of equality even harder.
While his assassin had sought to silence the great man, in death King's words became more
powerful than ever, and his passing marked the beginning of the end for the victorious
civil rights movement.
Think you got a great quote that you've said yourself or maybe heard somewhere?
What's the best quote out of the five in this episode?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called Badass Quotes Part 1!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!