---
title: Benito Mussolini
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/benito-mussolini/
description: 26 verified quotes from Benito Mussolini, Prime Minister and Duce of Fascism, with sources.
section: FRAME
---

![Illustration: an interwar radio-and-newsreel intelligence collage with a 1930s map of Europe and propaganda poster proofs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-interwar.jpg)

[Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · Italy

# Benito Mussolini

![Benito Mussolini in 1923](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/fascist-italy/benito-mussolini.jpg)

[Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benito_Mussolini_LCCN2014717611.jpg): Bain News Service, publisher, Public domain (Library of Congress, no known restrictions)

Prime Minister and Duce of Fascism · Italy

On the regime page: [Fascist Italy under Mussolini](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/fascist-italy/#benito-mussolini)

26 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=benito-mussolini).

1. **Content note:** Justification of political violence. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “Violence is not immoral. On the contrary it is sometimes moral. We dispute the right of our enemies to bewail our violence, because, compared with that which was committed in the unlucky years of ’19 and ’20 and with that of the Bolshevists in Russia—where two million people have been executed and another two million still pine in prison—our violence is child’s-play. On the other hand violence is decisive, because at the end of July and August, after having made use of it systematically for forty-eight hours, we got results which we should not have obtained in forty-eight years of sermons and propaganda. When, therefore, violence removes a gangrene of this sort, it is morally sacred and necessary.” — Original (Italian) — La violenza non è immorale. La violenza è qualche volta morale. Noi contestiamo a tutti i nostri nemici il diritto di lamentarsi della nostra violenza, perché paragonata a quelle che si commisero negli anni infausti del '19 e del '20 e paragonata a quella dei bolscevichi di Russia, dove sono state giustiziate due milioni di persone e dove altri due milioni di individui giacciono in carcere, la nostra violenza è un gioco da fanciulli. D'altra parte la nostra violenza è risolutiva, perché alla fine del luglio e di agosto in quarantotto ore di violenza sistematica e guerriera abbiamo ottenuto quello che non avremmo ottenuto in quarantotto anni di prediche e di propaganda. (Applausi). Quindi, quando la nostra violenza è risolutiva di una situazione cancrenosa, è moralissima, sacrosanta e necessaria. — English: Barone Bernardo Quaranta di San Severino (J. M. Dent, London, 1923) — September 20, 1922 · Speech · Udine — Mussolini addressed a Fascist gathering at Udine about six weeks before the March on Rome. He was referring to the Fascist action against the general strike of late July and early August 1922. — Speech at Udine, 20 September 1922 ("L'azione e la dottrina fascista dinanzi alle necessità storiche della Nazione"), in Mussolini as Revealed in His Political Speeches (November 1914 - August 1923), selected, translated and edited by Barone Bernardo Quaranta di San Severino (J. M. Dent, London, 1923), p. 147. Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 18: Dalla Conferenza di Cannes alla marcia su Roma (La Fenice, Florence, 1956), p. 413 [Source](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/62754/62754-h/62754-h.htm)
2. > “We have created our myth. The myth is a faith, it is passion. It is not necessary that it shall be a reality. It is a reality by the fact that it is a goad, a hope, a faith, that it is courage. Our myth is the Nation, our myth is the greatness of the Nation! And to this myth, to this grandeur, that we wish to translate into a complete reality, we subordinate all the rest” — Original (Italian) — Noi abbiamo creato il nostro mito. Il mito è una fede, è una passione. Non è necessario che sia una realtà. È una realtà nel fatto che è un pungolo, che è una speranza, che è fede, che è coraggio. Il nostro mito è la nazione, il nostro mito è la grandezza della nazione! (« Benissimo! »). E a questo mito, a questa grandezza, che noi vogliamo tradurre in una realtà completa, noi subordiniamo tutto il resto. — English: Herman Finer, in Mussolini's Italy (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1935) — October 24, 1922 · Speech · Naples — Mussolini spoke to the Fascist congress at Naples four days before the March on Rome began. The passage defines the nation as a myth that the movement serves. — Speech at the Fascist congress, Naples, 24 October 1922, in Herman Finer, Mussolini's Italy (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1935), p. 218 (English). Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 18: Dalla Conferenza di Cannes alla marcia su Roma (La Fenice, Florence, 1956), p. 457 [Source](https://archive.org/details/mussolinisitaly005773mbp)
3. **Content note:** Boast of ability to close Parliament by force. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “With three hundred thousand young men, fully armed, ready for anything and almost religiously prompt to obey any command of mine, I could have punished all those who have slandered the Fascisti and thrown mud at them. (Approval on the Right.) I could have made a bivouac of this gloomy grey hall; I could have shut up Parliament and formed a Government of Fascisti exclusively; I could have done so, but I did not wish to do so, at any rate at the moment.” — Original (Italian) — Con trecentomila giovani armati di tutto punto, decisi a tutto e quasi misticamente pronti ad un mio ordine, io potevo castigare tutti coloro che hanno diffamato e tentato di infangare il fascismo. (Approvazioni a destra). Potevo fare di quest'aula sorda e grigia un bivacco di manipoli.... [...] .... potevo sprangare il Parlamento e costituire un Governo esclusivamente di fascisti. Potevo: ma non ho, almeno in questo primo tempo, voluto. — English: Barone Bernardo Quaranta di San Severino (J. M. Dent, London, 1923) — November 16, 1922 · Speech · Rome, Chamber of Deputies — Mussolini's first address to the Chamber as Prime Minister, two and a half weeks after the March on Rome and the formation of his government, asking the Chamber for confidence. — Speech in the Chamber of Deputies, 16 November 1922 (first speech as Prime Minister), in Mussolini as Revealed in His Political Speeches (November 1914 - August 1923), selected, translated and edited by Barone Bernardo Quaranta di San Severino (J. M. Dent, London, 1923), p. 208. Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 19: Dalla marcia su Roma al viaggio negli Abruzzi (La Fenice, Florence, 1956), p. 17 [Source](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/62754/62754-h/62754-h.htm)
4. > “No exceptional laws were passed, [...] and the regulation of the Press is not an exceptional law. You forget a very simple thing, that the revolution has the right of defending itself.” — Original (Italian) — Leggi eccezionali nessuna. [...] Non è una legge eccezionale il regolamento sulla stampa. [...] Voi dimenticate una cosa molto semplice: che la rivoluzione ha diritto di difendersi. — English: Barone Bernardo Quaranta di San Severino (J. M. Dent, London, 1923) — July 16, 1923 · Speech · Rome, Chamber of Deputies — Mussolini answered opposition deputies who said his government was suppressing liberty, in the debate on the electoral reform bill. — Speech on the Electoral Reform Bill, Chamber of Deputies, 16 July 1923, in Mussolini as Revealed in His Political Speeches (November 1914 - August 1923), selected, translated and edited by Barone Bernardo Quaranta di San Severino (J. M. Dent, London, 1923), p. 355. Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 19: Dalla marcia su Roma al viaggio negli Abruzzi (La Fenice, Florence, 1956), p. 315 [Source](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/62754/62754-h/62754-h.htm)
5. **Content note:** Refers to political violence (castor oil and club). The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “Well, I declare here before this assembly, before all the Italian people, that I assume, I alone, the political, moral, historical responsibility for everything that has happened. If sentences, more or less maimed, are enough to hang a man, out with the noose! If Fascism has only been castor oil or a club, and not a proud passion of the best Italian youth, the blame is on me!” — Original (Italian) — Ebbene, dichiaro qui, al cospetto di questa Assemblea e al cospetto di tutto il popolo italiano, che io assumo, io solo, la responsabilità politica, morale, storica di tutto quanto è avvenuto. (Vivissimi e reiterati applausi. Molte voci: «Tutti con voi! Tutti con voi!»). Se le frasi più o meno storpiate bastano per impiccare un uomo, fuori il palo e fuori la corda! Se il fascismo non è stato che olio di ricino e manganello, e non invece una passione superba della migliore gioventù italiana, a me la colpa! — English: English text as hosted by Biblioteca Fascista (bibliotecafascista.blogspot.com); translator not named — January 3, 1925 · Speech · Rome, Chamber of Deputies — Mussolini spoke to the Chamber about six months after the killing of the Socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti, during a political crisis in which most opposition deputies were boycotting the Chamber. He asked whether any deputy wished to invoke Article 47 of the Statute to accuse the ministers, and no one did. — Speech on the Matteotti affair, Chamber of Deputies, 3 January 1925. Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 21: Dal delitto Matteotti all'attentato Zaniboni (La Fenice, Florence, 1956), pp. 238-239. English text: Biblioteca Fascista, "Speech in the Chamber, January 3, 1925" [Source](https://bibliotecafascista.blogspot.com/2012/03/speech-in-chamber-january-3-1925.html)
6. > “All in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.” — Original (Italian) — tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato. — English: Herman Finer, in Mussolini's Italy (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1935) — October 28, 1925 · Speech · Milan, Teatro alla Scala — Mussolini received the city of Milan's medal of merit at La Scala and set out what he called the central idea of the movement, the State, ahead of the laws of December 1925 and November 1926 restricting the press and opposition parties. — Speech at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 28 October 1925, Italian text in Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 21: Dal delitto Matteotti all'attentato Zaniboni (La Fenice, Florence, 1956), p. 425; English wording of the formula from Herman Finer, Mussolini's Italy (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1935), p. 168 [Source](https://archive.org/details/mussolinisitaly005773mbp)
7. > “I affirm that the fact, not fundamental, but determinant of the political, and, therefore, economic and moral power of nations, is their demographic strength. Let us speak plainly: what are 40 million Italians compared with 90 million Germans and 200 million Slavs? Let us turn to the West: what are 40 million Italians compared with 40 million Frenchmen plus the 90 million in their colonies, or compared with the 46 million English and more than 450 million of them in the colonies? Sirs, Italy to count as anything must arrive on the threshold of the second half of this century (1950) with a population not inferior to 60 million inhabitants” — Original (Italian) — Affermo che, dato non fondamentale ma pregiudiziale della potenza politica, e quindi economica e morale delle Nazioni, è la loro potenza demografica. Parliamoci chiaro: che cosa sono 40 milioni d'Italiani di fronte a 90 milioni di Tedeschi e a 200 milioni di Slavi? Volgiamoci a Occidente: che cosa sono 40 milioni di Italiani di fronte a 40 milioni di Francesi, più i 90 milioni di abitanti delle Colonie, o di fronte ai 46 milioni di Inglesi, più i 450 milioni che stanno nelle Colonie? Signori, l'Italia, per contare qualche cosa, deve affacciarsi sulla soglia della seconda metà di questo secolo con una popolazione non inferiore ai 60 milioni di abitanti. — English: Herman Finer, in Mussolini's Italy (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1935) — May 26, 1927 · Speech · Rome, Chamber of Deputies — In the Ascension Day speech to the Chamber Mussolini announced a programme of measures to raise the birth rate, including a tax on bachelors. Finer calls it Mussolini's first important speech on the subject. — "Discorso dell'Ascensione", Chamber of Deputies, 26 May 1927, in Herman Finer, Mussolini's Italy (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1935), p. 490 (English). Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 22: Dall'attentato Zaniboni al discorso dell'Ascensione (La Fenice, Florence, 1957), p. 364, and Biblioteca Fascista transcription [Source](https://archive.org/details/mussolinisitaly005773mbp)
8. **Content note:** Glorification of war. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism — born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to meet it. All other trials are substitutes, which never really put men into the position where they have to make the great decision — the alternative of life or death.” — Original (Italian) — il fascismo, per quanto riguarda, in generale, l’avvenire e lo sviluppo dell’umanità, e a parte ogni considerazione di politica attuale, non crede alla possibilità né all’utilità della pace perpetua. Respinge quindi il pacifismo che nasconde una rinuncia alla lotta e una viltà – di fronte al sacrificio. Solo la guerra porta al massimo di tensione tutte le energie umane e imprime un sigillo di nobiltà ai popoli che hanno la virtù di affrontarla. Tutte le altre prove sono dei sostituti, che non pongono mai l’uomo di fronte a se stesso, nell’alternativa della vita e della morte. — English: Jane Soames (authorised translation, The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism, Hogarth Press, London, 1933) — 1932 · Article — The 1932 Enciclopedia Italiana entry on Fascism has two parts. The first, on fundamental ideas, is attributed to Giovanni Gentile; the second, on political and social doctrine, is Mussolini's. This is his statement on peace and war. — Benito Mussolini, "La dottrina del fascismo" (Part 2, "Dottrina politica e sociale"), Enciclopedia Italiana, vol. 14 (1932); English: The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism, authorised translation by Jane Soames (Hogarth Press, Day to Day Pamphlets no. 18, London, 1933), p. 11 [Source](https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.217879)
9. > “Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the State.” — Original (Italian) — Per il fascismo lo Stato è un assoluto, davanti al quale individui e gruppi sono il relativo. Individui e gruppi sono «pensabili» in quanto siano nello Stato. — English: Jane Soames (authorised translation, The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism, Hogarth Press, London, 1933) — 1932 · Article — The 1932 Enciclopedia Italiana entry on Fascism has two parts. The first, on fundamental ideas, is attributed to Giovanni Gentile; the second, on political and social doctrine, is Mussolini's. This is the opening of his statement on the State. — Benito Mussolini, "La dottrina del fascismo" (Part 2, "Dottrina politica e sociale"), Enciclopedia Italiana, vol. 14 (1932); English: The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism, authorised translation by Jane Soames (Hogarth Press, Day to Day Pamphlets no. 18, London, 1933), p. 21 [Source](https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.217879)
10. > “Fascism denies that the majority, by the simple fact that it is a majority, can direct human society; it denies that numbers alone can govern by means of a periodical consultation, and it affirms the immutable, beneficial and fruitful inequality of mankind, which can never be permanently levelled through the mere operation of a mechanical process such as universal suffrage. The democratic regime may be defined as from time to time giving the people the illusion of sovereignty, while the real effective sovereignty lies in the hands of other concealed and irresponsible forces. Democracy is a regime nominally without a king, but it is ruled by many kings — more absolute, tyrannical and ruinous than one sole king, even though a tyrant.” — Original (Italian) — Il fascismo nega che il numero, per il semplice fatto di essere numero, possa dirigere le società umane; nega che questo numero possa governare attraverso una consultazione periodica; afferma la disuguaglianza irrimediabile e feconda e benefica degli uomini che non si possono livellare attraverso un fatto meccanico ed estrinseco com’è il suffragio universale. Regimi democratici possono essere definiti quelli nei quali, di tanto in tanto, si dà al popolo l’illusione di essere sovrano, mentre la vera effettiva sovranità sta in altre forze talora irresponsabili e segrete. La democrazia è un regime senza re, ma con moltissimi re talora più esclusivi, tirannici e rovinosi che un solo re che sia tiranno. — English: Jane Soames (authorised translation, The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism, Hogarth Press, London, 1933) — 1932 · Article — The 1932 Enciclopedia Italiana entry on Fascism has two parts. The first, on fundamental ideas, is attributed to Giovanni Gentile; the second, on political and social doctrine, is Mussolini's. Here he sets out the Fascist objection to democracy, after the section on Socialism. — Benito Mussolini, "La dottrina del fascismo" (Part 2, "Dottrina politica e sociale"), Enciclopedia Italiana, vol. 14 (1932); English: The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism, authorised translation by Jane Soames (Hogarth Press, Day to Day Pamphlets no. 18, London, 1933), p. 14 [Source](https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.217879)
11. > “The Fascist State is an embodied will to power and government: the Roman tradition is here an ideal of force in action. According to Fascism, government is not so much a thing to be expressed in territorial or military terms as in terms of morality and the spirit. It must be thought of as an Empire — that is to say, a nation which directly or indirectly rules other nations, without the need for conquering a single square yard of territory. For Fascism, the growth of Empire, that is to say the expansion of the nation, is an essential manifestation of vitality, and its opposite a sign of decadence. Peoples which are rising, or rising again after a period of decadence, are always imperialist; any renunciation is a sign of decay and of death.” — Original (Italian) — Lo Stato fascista è una volontà di potenza e d’imperio. La tradizione romana è qui un’idea di forza. Nella dottrina del fascismo l’impero non è soltanto un’espressione territoriale o militare o mercantile, ma spirituale o morale. Si può pensare a un impero, cioè a una nazione che direttamente o indirettamente guida altre nazioni, senza bisogno di conquistare un solo chilometro quadrato di territorio. Per il fascismo la tendenza all’impero, cioè all’espansione delle nazioni, è una manifestazione di vitalità; il suo contrario, o il piede di casa, è un segno di decadenza: popoli che sorgono o risorgono sono imperialisti, popoli che muoiono sono rinunciatari. — English: Jane Soames (authorised translation, The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism, Hogarth Press, London, 1933) — 1932 · Article — The 1932 Enciclopedia Italiana entry on Fascism has two parts. The first, on fundamental ideas, is attributed to Giovanni Gentile; the second, on political and social doctrine, is Mussolini's. The passage appears in the closing section on the State and its aims, three years before the invasion of Ethiopia. — Benito Mussolini, "La dottrina del fascismo" (Part 2, "Dottrina politica e sociale"), Enciclopedia Italiana, vol. 14 (1932); English: The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism, authorised translation by Jane Soames (Hogarth Press, Day to Day Pamphlets no. 18, London, 1933), p. 25 [Source](https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.217879)
12. > “Every speech made to the crowd has a twofold object, to clarify the situation and to suggest something to the masses. That is why speeches made to the people are essential to the arousing of enthusiasm for a war.” — English: Eden and Cedar Paul (from the German of Emil Ludwig). Original-language text not found. — 1932 · Interview · Rome, Palazzo Venezia — Ludwig had watched Mussolini address a crowd in the Piazza Venezia from the balcony and then asked about the relation between a leader and the masses. This is part of Mussolini's answer. — Emil Ludwig, conversations with Mussolini at the Palazzo Venezia, March-April 1932, chapter "Influencing the Masses", in Emil Ludwig, Talks with Mussolini, translated from the German by Eden and Cedar Paul (Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1933), pp. 119-120 [Source](https://archive.org/details/talkswithmussoli006557mbp)
13. **Content note:** Contemptuous description of the masses. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “For me the masses are nothing but a herd of sheep, so long as they are unorganised. I am nowise antagonistic to them. All that I deny is that they are capable of ruling themselves. But if you would lead them, you must guide them by two reins, enthusiasm and interest.” — English: Eden and Cedar Paul (from the German of Emil Ludwig). Original-language text not found. — 1932 · Interview · Rome, Palazzo Venezia — Asked by Ludwig how a leader can be influenced by the masses he addresses, Mussolini began his answer with this account of how to lead them. — Emil Ludwig, conversations with Mussolini at the Palazzo Venezia, March-April 1932, chapter "Influencing the Masses", in Emil Ludwig, Talks with Mussolini, translated from the German by Eden and Cedar Paul (Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1933), p. 119 [Source](https://archive.org/details/talkswithmussoli006557mbp)
14. **Content note:** Compares a crowd to a woman; says a dictator is loved if the masses also fear him. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “Provided that the masses fear him at the same time. The crowd loves strong men. The crowd is like a woman.” — English: Eden and Cedar Paul (from the German of Emil Ludwig). Original-language text not found. — 1932 · Interview · Rome, Palazzo Venezia — Ludwig had asked whether history knows any usurper who was loved, and whether a dictator can be loved. Mussolini first named Julius Caesar, then answered Ludwig's follow-up question as quoted. — Emil Ludwig, conversations with Mussolini at the Palazzo Venezia, March-April 1932, chapter "The School of History", in Emil Ludwig, Talks with Mussolini, translated from the German by Eden and Cedar Paul (Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1933), p. 61 [Source](https://archive.org/details/talkswithmussoli006557mbp)
15. > “Of course there are no pure races left; not even the Jews have kept their blood unmingled. Successful crossings have often promoted the energy and the beauty of a nation. Race! It is a feeling, not a reality; ninety-five per cent., at least, is a feeling. Nothing will ever make me believe that biologically pure races can be shown to exist to-day. Amusingly enough, not one of those who have proclaimed the 'nobility' of the Teutonic race was himself a Teuton. [...] National pride has no need of the delirium of race.” — English: Eden and Cedar Paul (from the German of Emil Ludwig). Original-language text not found. — 1932 · Interview · Rome, Palazzo Venezia — Ludwig asked whether Fascists risked talking about the Latin races in the way northern writers talked about the 'noble blonds'. Mussolini was answering that question six years before Italy's racial laws. — Emil Ludwig, conversations with Mussolini at the Palazzo Venezia, March-April 1932, chapter "Socialism and Nationalism", in Emil Ludwig, Talks with Mussolini, translated from the German by Eden and Cedar Paul (Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1933), pp. 68-69 [Source](https://archive.org/details/talkswithmussoli006557mbp)
16. > “Anti-Semitism does not exist in Italy, [...] Italians of Jewish birth have shown themselves good citizens, and they fought bravely in the war. Many of them occupy leading positions in the universities, in the army, in the banks. Quite a number of them are generals; Modena, the commandant of Sardinia, is a general of the artillery.” — English: Eden and Cedar Paul (from the German of Emil Ludwig). Original-language text not found. — 1932 · Interview · Rome, Palazzo Venezia — Ludwig had remarked that Mussolini's statement on race was the best argument against anti-Semitism. Mussolini replied as quoted. Six years later he announced the racial laws. — Emil Ludwig, conversations with Mussolini at the Palazzo Venezia, March-April 1932, chapter "Socialism and Nationalism", in Emil Ludwig, Talks with Mussolini, translated from the German by Eden and Cedar Paul (Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1933), p. 69 [Source](https://archive.org/details/talkswithmussoli006557mbp)
17. > “Three conditions are necessary for the full, complete, integral, and revolutionary fulfilment of the Corporate State: A single party, by means of which there shall be effectuated political control as well as economic control, and which shall be, above the competing interests, a bond which unites all in a common faith. Nor is that enough. We must have, as well as the single party, the totalitarian State, that is to say, the State which absorbs in itself, to transform and make them effective, all the energy, all the interests, and all the hope of a people. And even that is not enough. The third, and ultimate, and the most important condition, is to live a period of the highest ideal tension. We are now living in this period of high ideal tension.” — Original (Italian) — per fare il corporativismo pieno, completo, integrale, rivoluzionario, occorrono tre condizioni. Un partito unico, per cui accanto alla disciplina economica entri in azione anche la disciplina politica, e ci sia al di sopra dei contrastanti interessi un vincolo che tutti unisce, in fede comune. Non basta. Occorre, dopo il partito unico, lo Stato totalitario, cioè lo Stato che assorba in sé, per trasformarla e potenziarla, tutta l'energia, tutti gli interessi, tutta la speranza di un popolo. Non basta ancora. Terza ed ultima e più importante condizione: occorre vivere un periodo di altissima tensione ideale. (Vivi applausi). Noi viviamo in questo periodo di alta tensione ideale. — English: Herman Finer, in Mussolini's Italy (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1935) — November 14, 1933 · Speech · Rome, Ministry of Corporations — Mussolini presided over the assembly of the National Council of Corporations, which was discussing the law creating the corporations. He was answering the question whether corporatism could be applied in other countries. — Speech to the general assembly of the National Council of Corporations, Rome, 14 November 1933, in Herman Finer, Mussolini's Italy (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1935), p. 231 (English). Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 26: Dal patto a quattro all'inaugurazione della provincia di Littoria (La Fenice, Florence, 1958), p. 96 [Source](https://archive.org/details/mussolinisitaly005773mbp)
18. **Content note:** Glorification of war. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “Meanwhile history tells us that war is the phenomenon which accompanies the development of humanity. Perhaps it is the tragic destiny which weighs on man. War is to man as maternity is to woman [...] I do not believe in perpetual peace; not only that, I consider it depresses and negatives the fundamental virtues of man which only in bloody effort reveal themselves in the full light of the sun.” — Original (Italian) — Intanto la storia ci dice che la guerra è il fenomeno che accompagna lo sviluppo dell'umanità. Forse è il destino tragico che pesa sull'uomo. La guerra sta all'uomo, come la maternità alla donna. [...] io non credo alla pace perpetua, non solo, ma la ritengo deprimente e negatrice delle virtù fondamentali dell'uomo, che solo nello sforzo cruento si rivelano alla piena luce del sole. — English: Herman Finer, in Mussolini's Italy (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1935) — May 26, 1934 · Speech · Rome, Chamber of Deputies — Mussolini gave the Chamber his review of the economic situation and the international outlook, responding in passing to a remark by the deputy Carlo Delcroix about a Nobel prize. — Speech on the economic situation, Chamber of Deputies, 26 May 1934, in Herman Finer, Mussolini's Italy (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1935), p. 175 (English). Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 26: Dal patto a quattro all'inaugurazione della provincia di Littoria (La Fenice, Florence, 1958), p. 259 [Source](https://archive.org/details/mussolinisitaly005773mbp)
19. **Content note:** Justification of a colonial war. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “With Ethiopia we have been patient for forty years! It is time to say enough!” — Original (Italian) — Con l'Etiopia abbiamo pazientato quaranta anni! Ora basta! — English: English text as hosted by Biblioteca Fascista (bibliotecafascista.blogspot.com); translator not named — October 2, 1935 · Speech · Rome, Palazzo Venezia — Mussolini spoke to crowds gathered in public squares across Italy, broadcast by radio, the day before Italian forces invaded Ethiopia from Eritrea. The League of Nations was considering sanctions. — Speech announcing general mobilisation, Rome, 2 October 1935. Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 27: Dall'inaugurazione della provincia di Littoria alla proclamazione dell'impero (La Fenice, Florence, 1959), p. 159. English text: Biblioteca Fascista, "Speech in Rome, October 2, 1935" [Source](https://bibliotecafascista.blogspot.com/2012/03/speech-in-rome-october-2-1935.html)
20. > “The Italian people have created an empire with their blood. They will fertilize it with their labour. They will defend it against anyone with their arms.” — Original (Italian) — Il popolo italiano ha creato col suo sangue l'impero. Lo feconderà col suo lavoro e lo difenderà contro chiunque con le sue armi. — English: English text as hosted by Biblioteca Fascista (bibliotecafascista.blogspot.com); translator not named — May 9, 1936 · Speech · Rome, Palazzo Venezia — Mussolini announced the Grand Council's decision that the territories and peoples of the Ethiopian Empire were under the full sovereignty of the Kingdom of Italy and that the King took the title of Emperor of Ethiopia, days after Italian forces entered Addis Ababa. — Proclamation of the Empire, balcony of Palazzo Venezia, Rome, 9 May 1936. Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 27: Dall'inaugurazione della provincia di Littoria alla proclamazione dell'impero (La Fenice, Florence, 1959), p. 269. English text: Biblioteca Fascista, "Speech in Rome, May 9, 1936" [Source](https://bibliotecafascista.blogspot.com/2012/03/speech-in-rome-may-9-1936.html)
21. > “But these understandings which have been consecrated and duly signed—this Berlin-Rome protocol—is not a barrier, but is rather an axis around which all European States animated by the will for collaboration and for peace may collaborate.” — Original (Italian) — Ma queste intese, che sono state consacrate in appositi verbali debitamente firmati, questa verticale Berlino-Roma, non è un diaframma, è piuttosto un asse attorno al quale possono collaborare tutti gli Stati europei animati da volontà di collaborazione e di pace. — English: English text as hosted by Biblioteca Fascista (bibliotecafascista.blogspot.com); translator not named — November 1, 1936 · Speech · Milan, Piazza del Duomo — Mussolini described the understandings reached with Germany, after Count Ciano's visit to Berlin in October 1936, in a speech on foreign policy to a crowd in Milan. This is the passage from which the term Rome-Berlin Axis came into use. — Speech at Milan, 1 November 1936. Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 28: Dalla proclamazione dell'impero al viaggio in Germania (La Fenice, Florence, 1959), pp. 69-70. English text: Biblioteca Fascista, "Speech in Milan, November 1, 1936" [Source](https://bibliotecafascista.blogspot.com/2012/03/speech-in-milan-november-1-1936.html)
22. **Content note:** Announcement of antisemitic policy. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “It is in relation to imperial conquest; because history teaches us that empires are conquered by arms, but are held by prestige. And for prestige it is necessary to have a clear, severe racial consciousness, that establishes not only the differences, but also very clear superiorities. The Jewish problem is thus only one aspect of this phenomenon. Our position has been determined by these indisputable facts. World Jewry has been, for sixteen years, despite our policy, an irreconcilable enemy of Fascism. In Italy our policy has led, in the Semitic elements, to what can today be called a true rush to board the ship. However, Jews of Italian citizenship who have unquestionable military or civil merit towards Italy and the Regime, will find understanding and justice. As for the others, a policy of separation is what awaits them.” — Original (Italian) — È in relazione con la conquista dell'impero; poiché la storia c'insegna che gli imperi si conquistano con le armi, ma si tengono col prestigio. E per il prestigio occorre una chiara, severa coscienza razziale, che stabilisca non soltanto delle differenze, ma delle superiorità nettissime. Il problema ebraico non è dunque che un aspetto di questo fenomeno. La nostra posizione è stata determinata da questi incontestabili dati di fatto. L'ebraismo mondiale è stato, durante sedici anni, malgrado la nostra politica, un nemico irriconciliabile del fascismo. In Italia la nostra politica ha determinato negli elementi semiti quella che si può oggi chiamare, si poteva chiamare, una corsa vera e propria all'arrembaggio. Tuttavia gli ebrei di cittadinanza italiana, i quali abbiano indiscutibili meriti militari o civili nei confronti dell'Italia e del regime, troveranno comprensione e giustizia; quanto agli altri, si seguirà nei loro confronti una politica di separazione. — English: English text as hosted by Biblioteca Fascista (bibliotecafascista.blogspot.com); translator not named — September 18, 1938 · Speech · Trieste, Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia — Mussolini's only public speech announcing the racial policy, delivered in Trieste during a visit. It followed the Manifesto of Race (July 1938) and the first decrees on schools (September 1938), and preceded the racial laws of November 1938, which removed Jews from public life and barred marriage between Jews and non-Jews. — Speech at Trieste, 18 September 1938. Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 29: Dal viaggio in Germania all'intervento (La Fenice, Florence, 1959), p. 146. English text: Biblioteca Fascista, "Speech in Trieste, September 18, 1938" [Source](https://bibliotecafascista.blogspot.com/2012/03/speech-in-trieste-september-18-1938.html)
23. > “The hour destined by fate is sounding for us. The hour of irrevocable decision has come. A declaration of war already has been handed to the Ambassadors of Great Britain and France. We take the field against the plutocratic and reactionary democracies who always, have blocked the march and frequently plotted against the existence of the Italian people.” — Original (Italian) — Un'ora segnata dal destino batte nel cielo della nostra patria. (Acclamazioni vivissime). L'ora delle decisioni irrevocabili. La dichiarazione di guerra è già stata consegnata (acclamazioni, grida altissime di: « Guerra! Guerra! ») agli ambasciatori di Gran Bretagna e di Francia. Scendiamo in campo contro le democrazie plutocratiche e reazionarie dell'Occidente, che, in ogni tempo, hanno ostacolato la marcia, e spesso insidiato l'esistenza medesima del popolo italiano. — English: English text as printed in Vital Speeches of the Day, vol. 6 (1940), p. 516; translator not named — June 10, 1940 · Speech · Rome, Palazzo Venezia — Mussolini announced Italy's entry into the Second World War against Britain and France to a crowd in Rome as German forces advanced in France. — Speech from the balcony of Palazzo Venezia, Rome, 10 June 1940, English in Vital Speeches of the Day, vol. 6, p. 516 ("Italy Enters the War"). Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 29: Dal viaggio in Germania all'intervento (La Fenice, Florence, 1959), p. 403 [Source](https://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1940/1940-06-10b.html)
24. **Content note:** Call for hatred of the enemy. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “The events during these months exasperate our will and must accentuate against the enemy that cold, conscious, implacable hate, hate in every home, which is indispensable for victory.” — Original (Italian) — Gli eventi vissuti in questi mesi esasperano la nostra volontà e devono accentuare contro il nemico quell’odio freddo, cosciente, implacabile, odio radicato in ogni cuore, diffuso in ogni casa, che è un elemento indispensabile per la vittoria. — English: English text as printed in the New York Times, 24 February 1941, via the ibiblio Public Heritage Archive; translator not named — February 23, 1941 · Speech · Rome, Teatro Adriano — Mussolini spoke about eight months after Italy entered the war, with Italian forces engaged in Greece and North Africa, reviewing the war's course. — Speech to the Fascist officials of Rome ("Camicie nere dell'Urbe"), Teatro Adriano, Rome, 23 February 1941, English in the New York Times, 24 February 1941. Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 30: Dall'intervento dell'Italia nella seconda guerra mondiale (La Fenice, Florence, 1960), p. 54 [Source](https://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1941/410223a.html)
25. **Content note:** Antisemitic claim about the United States. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “Let me say now that what is occurring in the United States is one of the most colossal mystifications in all history. Illusion and lying are the basis of American interventionism-illusion that the United States is still a democracy, when instead it is a political and financial oligarchy dominated by Jews, through a personal form of dictatorship. The lie is that the Axis powers, after they finish Great Britain, want to attack America.” — Original (Italian) — Lasciatemi dire ora che quanto accade negli Stati Uniti è una delle più colossali mistificazioni che la storia ricordi. Una illusione e una menzogna stanno alle basi dell’interventismo americano: l’illusione che gli Stati Uniti siano ancora una democrazia, mentre sono, di fatto, una oligarchia politico-finanziaria dominata dall’ebraismo, attraverso una forma personale di dittatura; la menzogna che le potenze dell’Asse vogliono attaccare, dopo la gran Bretagna, l’America. — English: English text as printed in the New York Times, 24 February 1941, via the ibiblio Public Heritage Archive; translator not named — February 23, 1941 · Speech · Rome, Teatro Adriano — Speaking about eight months after Italy entered the war and nine months before it declared war on the United States, Mussolini addressed American public opinion on the debate over US intervention. — Speech to the Fascist officials of Rome ("Camicie nere dell'Urbe"), Teatro Adriano, Rome, 23 February 1941, English in the New York Times, 24 February 1941. Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 30: Dall'intervento dell'Italia nella seconda guerra mondiale (La Fenice, Florence, 1960), pp. 57-58 [Source](https://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1941/410223a.html)
26. > “And Churchill concludes: "How long will all this last?" I reply in the most solemn and categoric manner: It will last until victory, and beyond!” — Original (Italian) — E Churchill conclude: « Fino a quando durerà tutto ciò? ». Rispondo nella maniera più solenne e categorica : durerà fino alla vittoria ed oltre. — English: Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, U.S. Federal Communications Commission (monitored translation) — December 2, 1942 · Speech · Rome, Chamber of Fasces and Corporations — Mussolini answered a radio address to the Italian people by Winston Churchill on 29 November 1942, after the Allied landings in French North Africa and the retreat from El Alamein. — Speech to the Chamber of Fasci and Corporations, Rome, 2 December 1942, English translation by the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, Federal Communications Commission. Italian text: Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel, vol. 31: Dal discorso al Direttorio nazionale del P.N.F. (La Fenice, Florence, 1960), p. 129 [Source](https://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1942/421202a.html)

## Often attributed, not verified

These words circulate under Benito Mussolini’s name but could not be traced to a source. They are listed so readers can check them, not as Benito Mussolini’s words.

- > “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Benito Mussolini, said to be from 'The Doctrine of Fascism' or a speech — Not found in the Soames English text of 'The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism' (1933), the Italian text of 'La dottrina del fascismo' (Enciclopedia Italiana, 1932), Ludwig's Talks with Mussolini (1933), Finer's Mussolini's Italy (1935), or a word search of the OCR of Opera omnia vols. 18 to 32 for the sentence and close variants. The Doctrine describes the corporative system but contains no such sentence. No primary citation has been traced; the wording circulates in unsourced online lists.
- > “Governing the Italians is not impossible, it is merely useless.” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Attributed to Mussolini in popular quotation lists — No match for 'governare gli italiani' or the sentence in the OCR of Opera omnia vols. 18 to 32, nor in Ludwig (1933) or Finer (1935). Not located in a primary text; the saying is often retold as a Mussolini witticism without citation.
- > “Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy.” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Attributed to Mussolini, sometimes to a 1928 autobiography or an interview — Not found in the English text of My Autobiography (1928 edition on the Internet Archive), Ludwig's Talks with Mussolini, the Soames Doctrine, or the OCR of Opera omnia vols. 18 to 32. The nearest verified statements are in the Doctrine of Fascism (see the 1932 democracy quotation).
- > “It is better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep.” — Misattributed Usually said to come from: Often cited as Mussolini's own saying — Mussolini quoted the motto repeatedly but as a soldier's inscription, not his own coinage: on 30 June 1926 he called it 'scritta da un anonimo, ufficiale o fante poco importa, sopra uno dei baraccamenti alla vigilia della battaglia del Piave' (Opera omnia XXII), on 23 May 1932 ('quella del Piave', Opera omnia XXV), and again in a flag-presentation speech in 1934 (Opera omnia XXVI).
- > “If I advance, follow me; if I retreat, kill me; if I die, avenge me.” — Misattributed Usually said to come from: Often cited as Mussolini's own words — In his speech to the Party Directorate on 7 April 1926 Mussolini introduced the formula with the words 'come il vecchio combattitore' (as the old fighter said), i.e. as a quotation from an earlier source, and the Susmel edition prints it under that title (Opera omnia XXII, p. 111). It is not his own coinage.