Quotes from Robert M. Edsel

Posey remembered a story he had heard other soldiers telling about Patton's days commanding U.S. Seventh Army in Sicily in 1943. General Patton, upon seeing the Roman ruins at Agrigento, remarked to a local expert, "Seventh Army didn't cause that destruction, did it, sir?" The man replied, "No sir, that happened in the last war." "What war was that?" "The Second Punic War."5

Harry's grades dropped noticeably. This wasn't the result of ostracism or intimidation—that did occur, but Harry was never beaten or physically bullied by his

The inventory listed every work of art in the Western world—France, the Netherlands, Britain, and even the United States (which Kümmel said possessed nine such works)—that rightly belonged to Germany. Under Hitler's definition, this included every work taken from Germany since 1500, every work by any artist of German or Austrian descent, every work commissioned or completed in Germany, and every work deemed to have been executed in a Germanic style. The

don't believe I've ever been more certain than I am now that the development and understanding of man's workmanship is the fundamental need of man's spirit; or that we can never look for a healthy social body until that need, among others, is fed.

Solid, sound leadership… and ironclad determination to face discouragement, risk, and increasing work without flinching, will always characterize the man who has a sure-enough, bang-up fighting unit.

It marked the first time an army fought a war while comprehensively attempting to mitigate cultural damage, and it was performed without adequate transportation, supplies, personnel, or historical precedent.

A good start, a willingness—even eagerness—to work beyond the call of duty, a sense of fair play, and a recognition of opportunities before and when they arrive. In other words, it is important to find a course and steer it."31

Eisenhower insisted, every man and woman not on the front lines, must see this. "We are told the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against."11 Patton

he had sold his soul, and that is something you can never repurchase at any price.

believed it was better to assume the burden of leadership than to drift along in the shadows.

ancestors.… If these things are lost or broken or destroyed, we lose a valuable part of our knowledge about our forefathers. No age lives entirely alone; every civilisation is formed not merely by its own achievements but by what it has inherited from the past. If these things are destroyed, we have lost a part of our past, and we shall be the poorer for it. —British Monuments Man Ronald Balfour, draft lecture for soldiers, 1944 All

That they will be sources of inspiration illuminating the past and vivifying the present; that they will fortify the spirit on which victory depends. Despite

him. He spent more than three hours in the Uffizi Gallery, staring in wonder at its famous works of art. His entourage tried to keep him moving. Behind him, Mussolini, who had never willingly stepped foot in an art museum in his life,1 muttered in exasperation, "Tutti questi quadri…"—"All these paintings…"2 But Adolf Hitler would not be hurried.

The Führermuseum, the most spectacular art museum in history, culled from the riches of the entire world, gave that pursuit a defining rationale.

To safeguard these things will not affect the course of battles, but it will affect the relations of invading armies with those peoples and [their] governments.…

Of all the charges which have been leveled against me," he is quoted as saying in the Nuremberg Interviews, "the so-called looting of art treasures by me has caused me the most anguish.

fellows are just naturally interested in a good piece of work and have no unnatural restrictions in looking it over. Perhaps, and may the sahibs of the Fogg forgive me for thinking it, this simple, curious outlook of healthy men is more important than some of the monuments themselves.

They are expressions of faith, and they stand for man's struggle to relate himself to his past and to his God. With

Non mi sono mai reso conto di che cosa significasse combattere in un museo finché non ho messo piede in Italia. - Kesselring

George Stout saw through their acts. "I am sick of all schemers," he wrote, "of all the vain crawling toads who now edge into positions of advantage and look for selfish gain or selfish glory from all this suffering."13

The skilled observer, not the machine, was the essence of conservation.

how could one of the most important and unbelievable moments in art history—not to mention the history of a world war—simply become a forgotten footnote? But that's exactly what happened.

It is also a near-perfect summary of what happens in the void of war and how history is more often than not a messy combination of intention, courage, preparation, and chance. If

Colonel George A. Taylor rallied survivors with a cry, 'Two kinds of people are staying on this beach, the dead and those who are going to die. Now let's get the hell out of here.