William L. Shirer was an American journalist and war correspondent. He is best known for his book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, which chronicled the Nazi regime in Germany during World War II. He was also a foreign correspondent for CBS Radio, covering the events of World War II in Europe for the American public.
What is the most famous quote by William L. Shirer ?
History must speak for itself. A historian is content if he has been able to shed more light.
— William L. Shirer
What can you learn from William L. Shirer (Life Lessons)
- William L. Shirer's work demonstrates the importance of thorough research and fact-checking in journalism. He was known for his meticulous attention to detail and for his willingness to challenge conventional wisdom.
- His work also illustrates the power of investigative journalism to uncover truths that powerful people may not want revealed.
- Finally, Shirer's work shows the importance of having a moral compass and standing up for what is right, even in the face of adversity.
The most craziest William L. Shirer quotes to get the best of your day
Following is a list of the best William L. Shirer quotes, including various William L. Shirer inspirational quotes, and other famous sayings by William L. Shirer.
No class or group or party in Germany could escape its share of responsibility for the abandonment of the democratic Republic and the advent of Adolf Hitler. The cardinal error of the Germans who opposed Nazism was their failure to unite against it.
Perhaps America will one day go fascist democratically, by popular vote.
Most true happiness comes from one's inner life, from the disposition of the mind and soul. Admittedly, a good inner life is difficult to achieve, especially in these trying times. It takes reflection and contemplation and self-discipline.
I myself was to experience how easily one is taken in by a lying and censored press and radio in a totalitarian state... a steady diet over the years of falsifications and distortions made a certain impression on one's mind and often misled it.
The Nazi regime intended eventually to destroy Christianity in Germany, if it could, and substitute the old paganism of the early Germanic gods and the new paganism of the Nazi extremists.
Most true happiness comes from one's inner life, from the disposition of the mind and soul.
In our new age of terrifying, lethal gadgets, which supplanted so swiftly the old one, the first great aggressive war, if it should come, will be launched by suicidal little madmen pressing an electronic button. Such a war will not last long and none will ever follow it. There will be no conquerors and no conquests, but only the charred bones of the dead on and uninhabited planet.
But without Adolf Hitler, who was possessed of a demonic personality, a granite will, uncanny instincts, a cold ruthlessness, a remarkable intellect, a soaring imagination and - until the end, when, drunk with power and success, he overreached himself - an amazing capacity to size up people and situations, there almost certainly would never have been a Third Reich.
Historical quotes by William L. Shirer
Adolf Hitler is probably the last of the great adventurer-conquerors in the tradition of Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon, and the Third Reich the last of the empires which set out on the path taken earlier by France, Rome and Macedonia. The curtain was rung down on that phase of history, at least, by the sudden invention of the hydrogen bomb, of the ballistic missile and of rockets that can be aimed to hit the moon.
Chamberlain's stubborn, fanatical insistence on giving Hitler what he wanted, his trips to Berchtesgaden and Godesberg and finally the fateful journey to Munich rescued Hitler from his limb and strengthened his position in Europe, in Germany, in the Army, beyond anything that could have been imagined a few weeks before. It also added immeasurably to the power of the Third Reich vis-a-vis the Western democracies and the Soviet Union.
Hitler, who founded the Third Reich, who ruled it ruthlessly and often with uncommon shrewdness, who led it to such dizzy heights and such a sorry end, was a person of undoubted, if evil genius. It is true that in the German people, as a mysterious Providence and centuries of experience had molded them up to that time, he found a natural instrument which he was able to shape to his own sinister ends.