It is humiliating to remain with our hands folded while others write history. It matters little who wins. To make a people great it is necessary to send them to battle even if you have to kick them in the pants. That is what I shall do.
Source: In Ciano, Diario 1939-1943, 1946; entry for 11 Apr 1940.
-- Benito Mussolini, (Jul 29 1883-1945), Italian political leader; Il Duce was prime minister (1922-43) and the first of 20th-century Europe's fascist dictators; allied with Adolf Hitler, 1939.