Quotes about Hungarians

[Szegedist]

THEOPHYLACTUS SIMOCATTA (early 7th century) Byzantian historian:
„Hungarians revere fire above all other things; they respect water and air, they praise earth, but they only name one God: the creator of the world. They sacrifice horses, bulls and sheep to Him, and they have priests who – it is said – can tell the future.”

AHMED IBN RUSTA Persian lexicographist and geographist writes around 930:
„Hungarians are of turk race and their leader goes to battle with twenty thousand horsemen. The land of the Hungarians is filled with trees and waters. They have a lot of croplands. These Hungarians are handsome and beautiful people, tall, and wealthy – which they owe to trade. Their clothes are made of silk. Their weapons are laid with gold and silver and pearls.”

LEO the WISE Emperor of Byzantium (866-911):
„The Hungarians bear labour, toil, seering heat, cold, all kinds of necessity well. They love freedom and splendour.”

REGIONO of Lorraine, abbout of Prüm ( ? – 915) writes in his Chronicles of the World in 908:
„They have been trained in hardships and wars, their strength of body is immesurable… They kill few of their enemies with the sword, but lot of them with their arrows, which they can shoot out of their bows so skillfully, that it is well nigh impossible to defend against them… Their nature is haughty and rebellious. They are by nature tight-lipped, they are keener to action than words.”

LUITPRANT bishop of Cremona writes in 910, after having been in contact with Hungarians for a year:
„gens hungarorum videlicet christiana…” or „the Hungarian Nation is clearly Christian”.

EKKARD writes thus in the Annals of Sankt Gallen (895-1060):
„I don’t remember ever meeting merrier people in our cloister than the Hungarians. They gave food and drink with greatest plenty.”

GARDEZI Persian writer, around 1050:
„Hungarians are valiant, handsome and prestigious. Their clothes are made of coloured silk, their weapons are laid with silver, they are fond of the light.”

MICHAEL, patriarch of Syria (1196):
Hungarians are „righteous, honest, smart… they don’t like too much talk.”

WILLIAM of TYRE, bishop (ca. 1130-1190) who wrote down the passing of the first crusaders writes thus in his chronicles:
„Hungarians are Christian. They are peaceful, well-intentioned, wealthy people.”

PIERRE VIDAL troubadour of Provance has visited the court of King Imre (1196-1204) and writes thus of Hungary:
„To lighten my mood I went to Hungary, to the good King Imre. I found a great home, honest, fair-hearted friends and servants.”

DANTE ALLIGHIERI (1265-1321) sent this message to the civil-war torn Hungary (in the time of the interregnum after the first dynasty of kings died out):
„Oh happy Hungary, don’t let yourself be tormented any more!”

The Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire writes thus in 1444:
„Great is the power and strength of Hungary, but to expel the Turks from Europe, they would need even more.”

Pope Michael V. in 1449, and pope Callixtus III. in 1455 awarded the title of „Shield of Christianity” to Hungary.

Pope PIUS II. after the world-renown victory of János Hunyadi in the battle of Nándorfehérvár (now Belgrade) in 1456 writes thus in a letter written to Emperor Frederick III:
„Hungary is the shield of Christianity and the protector of Western civilization.”

BONFINI (1425-1502):
„Writers have charged Hungarians with all kinds of cruelty, except the charge of homosexuality, which they do not practice neither at home, nor in the camps.”

JEAN LEMAIRE DE BELGES (1473-1525) French (vallon) writer in 1511:
„Hungary is the bastion of Christianity.”

ROBERT JOHNSON writes in 1616:
„This kingdom alone has done more to stop the Ottoman ambitions and fortunes, than all other Christian states put together. „

MARY MONTAGU wife of Wortley, British Ambassador writes in 1717:
„Hungarian ladies are much more beautiful than Austrians, all the beauties in Vienna come from Hungary.”

JOHN STUART MILTON (1608-1674) writer of Paradise Lost:
„I am proud that England has close cultural ties to Hungary.”

CHARLES-LOUIS MONTESQUIEU (1648-1755):
„Hungarians are well renown for their love for freedom, their noble and generous hearts, and their heroic courage. Their hospitality is legendary.”

JULES MICHELET (1798-1874):
„The Hungarian Nation is the aristocracy of heroism, greatness of heart and dignity. When will we pay back our debt towards this blessed nation that saved the West? French historians should at last show their gratitute towards Hungary, hero of Nations. This Nation lifts us up and ennobles us with their heroic example. Hungarian heroism is a manifestation of high morals.”


http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/opinions-about-hungarians-part-i--752473/1/20

[Szegedist]

EDUARD SAYOUS (1842-1898):
„Western Nations should be grateful for the services that Hungary has done for civilization, at first when She sacrificed Her own body to stop barbarism, and then when She clung with unwavering courage to Her freedom.”

Englishman G. HERRING writes in his guide book in 1838:
„Hungary was the obstacle of Turkish expansion, cradle of constitutional liberty and religious tolerance.”

SAINT RENÉ TAILLANDER (1817-1879):
„The Hungarian Nation cannot be destroyed. Even if they but Her in the grave, sooner or later she will resurrect.”

R. BACKWILL English political writer writes in 1841:
„Hungary should retake Her place among the nations of the world and be what She was before: the proudest bastion of Europe.”

VICTOR HUGO (1802-1885):
„Hungary is the Nation of heroes, Germany represents virtue, France represents libery, Italy represents glory among the nations of the world. Hungary is the incarnation of valour.”

BISMARCH, Chancellor of Germany (1818-1898):
„A strange people are the Hungarians. But I like them very much.”

THEODORE ROOSEVELT (1858-1919), President of the United States, upon a visit to Hungary in 1910 spoke thus:
„The whole civilized world is in debt towards Hungary for Her past.”

ELISÉE RECLUS (1837-1916):
„Hungary’s outstanding asset is its geographic unity. The Kingdom of Hungary is geographically speaking one of Europe’s most coherent territory. Whatever should in the future happen to Central-European states, we can be sure that Hungary will always play the most important part in the huge arena sorrounded by the Carpathian mountains.”

PAUL TOPINARD (1830-1911) French anthropologist in his first anthropological handbook published in 1881 writes thus:
„Nowadays the features of the learned Hungarian families are among the most beautiful in Europe. Their stature is somewhat larger than medium, they are well-built, their features are symmetrical. Their skin colour is white or light brown, their hair and eyes are brown. Based on preliminary anthropological data, their relationship to Finnish peoples is questionable.”

HANS NORMAN 1883:
„From all the peoples of Hungary the real Hungarians stand out… they are well-built, muscular people, noble, like they are carved from marble… their eyes are fiery.”

VAUTIER French politician writes thus in the beginning of the 20. century:
„Hungary’s past is glorious, but the future holds the promise of even more glory. This nation, who deserved so much more, was detached from Europe by Austria, mainly for the reason to be able to exploit Her more easily, but also to be able to silence the voices of Hungary crying out for freedom and independence.”

PAYOT:
„Hungary is an admirable geographic unit. All parts are interdependent upon each other, and cannot be torn apart without inflicting damage upon the whole.”

GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO (1863-1938) Italian poet writes in 1926:
„Even until justice shall be restored to Hungary, the issues of the Carpathian Basin cannot be resolved for good. The war truly mutilated Hungary.”

G. FERRERO Italian historian (1871-1942):
„Hungary is a thousand-years-old state, a historical and geographic whole, welded together by centuries, and held together by internal attractions. This unity cannot be torn apart in a moment, neither by weapon, nor by pen.”

Professor Archibald Céry Collidge, who was familiar with politics and history of Central Europe, in 1919 made a proposition to President Woodrow Wilson about the peace treaty of Trianon, reccommending to keep the unity of Hungary, and speeking out against the rape of Transylvania:
„To force upon a unified thousand-year-old nation such a final resolution, would surely condemn the future to hatred, enmity and war, and would mean the prospect of military confrontation int he near future.”

I. GARVIN English publicist writes in 1925:
„Of all the defeated nations, the superior Hungarian nation has been given the most evil fate.”

LORD SYDENHAM, member of the House of Lords writes thus in his book published in 1927:
„I look at the fate of this proud nation and its glorious history with utmost compassion, who are now locked in the armed ring of Little-Entente peoples.”

LORD ROTHERMERE (1868-1940) writes thus in the June 27th, 1927. issue of the Daily Mail:
„The injustice of the new European borders is a constant threat to peace in Europe, and those hands, who have created today’s political situation, have scattered the seeds of a future war.”

ALBERT CAMUS (1913-1960) French Nobel Prize winner writer said in his speech on October 23, 1957:
„The blood of the Hungarian nation. I do not belong among those, who wish for the Hungarian nation to take up arms yet again to fight a rebellion that is destined to be tread out before the eyes of the Western World, which would not spare neither applause nor Christian tears, but then would go home and put on his slippers, like football fans after a Sunday game. There are too many dead in the stadium, one can only bargain with his own blood. The Hungarian blood is such a treasure of Europe and freedom, that we must save every drop of it.
Upon this anniversary of liberty I wish with all my heart, that the silent resistance of the Hungarian people would carry on, strengthen itself, so that as an echo of a cry coming from all directions, would achieve in world opinion a boycott against the aggressors.
And even if this world opinion is too weak and selfish to bring justice to this martyr nation, if our voice is too weak, I wish that the Hungarian resistance would hold out until the conter-revolutionary regimes of the East crumbles beneath the weight of their own lies and contradictions.
The conquered and bound Hungary has done more for freedom than any other nation in these past 20 years. For this historical lesson to be heard by the blind and deaf West, much Hungarian blood had to be spilled – and this torrent of blood is now drying up in the memory of the public.
In a Europe that has been left alone, we can only remain true to Hungary if we never ever betray what the Hungarian fighters gave their life, and never ever justify – not even indirectly – their murderers.
It is very hard to be worthy of so much sacrifice. But we must try, forgetting our differences, reviewing our mistakes, multiplying our efforts and our solidarity in this finally unifying Europe.
The Hungarian workers and intellectuals, before whom we stand now with so much helpless sorrow, know this, and they are the ones who taught us the deeper meaning of everything. Therefore if we share their tragedy, we may also share their hope. Regardless of their suffering, their chains, and their exile, they have given us a royal legacy, which we have to earn: freedom, which they have not achieved for themselves, but in a single day have given back ours.”



http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/opinions-about-hungarians-part-ii--752700/1/20

[Szegedist]

JEAN COCTEAU (1892-1963) French poet, painter, acrobat, music-critic, actor wrote in his book „Hommage dés poètes français aux poètes hongrois” (Homage of the French poets to the Hungarian poets) in 1957:
„Dear Hungarians, you are all stars among the objects of the sky – and all of you are poets by the tragic lyre of action.”

RAMON CUÉ ROMANO (1914-2001) Spanish Jesuit preast published a book of poems in 1957 entitled „Sangre de Hungaria” (The blood of Hungary). Here is one of his moving poems:
We have left you alone

Our little sister, our dear!
We left you alone.
Just as in plain daylight they came upon you,
And red hands tore you from the heart of Europe.
On the Via Dolorosa of the civilized world,
We left you alone.

We stood around your body beaten to the ground,
Over your cries of agony and gushing rivers of blood,
with which you sprinkled
our clothes, - we just mouthed and debated,
But nobody took a step forward,
We just raised our hands to the sky,
And left you alone.

Right before our eyes you were beaten into the ground,
Not behind distant rainforests,
But in the heart of Europe, where
the Forum and the Parthenon, these guardians of our past
look down upon the cathedrals, which echoed
the accusation that Dante spoke on your behalf,
that wisdom and justice have fallen to pieces
And Beethoven’s song cries nine times:
Our lives have wandered into a new age of barbarism.
And even as our shoulders are burdened by the weight of twenty centuries,
We betrayed our past and again
into blind fear has action crumbled,
And we left you alone.

We stood and gazed dumbstruck
as the enemy waded through the law,
And so that we may in the last moment
Satisfy the monster’s hunger,
As a sacrifice to the terrible dinner
We threw our own little sister.
And who will be the new sacrifice of tomorrow?
Your only sin was a craving for freedom,
like the eagles of the blue sky.
Your sons’ only guilt was that
they wanted to call their wife „mine”,
they wanted to call their mothers „mine”,
they wanted to call their daughters „mine”,
and the earth which they have sown with wheat and blood,
they wanted to call land and history „mine”.
Oh Lord tell me, is this wrongdoing?
This is why they tread you out, and we, the free
Have left you alone.

Our little sister, dear Hungary!
The depths of our souls and our cities’
jazz-sound filled nights, our circle-eyed dawns
carry the grudge,
That they tread you out, and your fresh blood
upon the free man’s clean clothes
the worker’s oily coat,
And our Sunday’s pressed trousers cry out…
There’s nobody who could wash your blood,
that has been burned to our foreheads
by the blame-red lips of twenty thousand dead:
„On the world stage, in plain daylight again
You left us alone.”

And haunt us the shadow of this sin will:
The voice of peace shall be quenched by the cries of pain,
Freedom hides a new betrayal.
And if our lips speak out for justice,
our own sins will contradict us,
because deep in their souls, the people feel it,
that the heavy clay-foot of our sins
has set off, and dirt clings to dirt,
our treason dies in new treasons
And there is no great nation as long as
this stigma burns upon us – and our foreheads
to the heavens we cannot turn, for in chains are the Hungarians.
Because in front of us, in the heart of Europe,
in plain daylight has it happened,
that our beautiful little sister was raped,
and we left you alone.

(The Hungarians, the people of failed revolutions and independence wars, for a thousand years has stood alone, and with their own body and life protected not only their homeland, but all of Europe. So after 1956, the weaponless poets, acting by the conscience of the world, bowed their heads in front of the oppressed, the incarcerated, the dead and said: Gloria Victis, glory to the vanquished, who cannot be defeated.)

ISMAIL GALAAL (1914-1980) Somali (Africa) poet witnessed in 1962, that in the deserts of East Africa, by the camp-fires of camel-caravans, some tribes (who have heardly even heard of Europe), sing with reverence songs of the Hungarian revolution.

HANS KUITERT Dutch publicist’s views on Hungarians in the July 31st, 2001 edition of „De Telegraaf”:
„Nationalism is often seen with disapproval in the world: it implies superiority of a certain people with regards to others, and such unpleasant names are associated with it like Hitler’s, Milocevic’s – and to certain Palestinians – Sharon’s. Hungarian nationalism however is of a totally different nature, a harmless phenomenon. Hungarian nationalism obviously came from Mars.
From Mars, the fourth planet of our Solar system, where NASA launched a probe in April, although I believe it would have been easier to send a Concorde-jet to Budapest. For Hungary is like Mars on Earth, and Hungarians are as if they were Martian: they are leading minds in computer technology, brilliant scientists who win Nobel Prizes, outstanding matematicians. So if the story is true – they are the crem de la creme of humanity.
Isaac Asimov once said about them: „It is said in America that there are 2 intelligent life-forms on Earth: humans, and Hungarians. Some went even further and claimed that Martians already live among us, and they call themselves Hungarians.
It seems therefore, that the foresight of the European Union surpasses that of Bush Jr. or Putin’s wildest dreams. The EU did not – in the form of Hungary – accept a small barren country surrounded by other states into the creaking alliance of European nations, but the land of Martians itself! What else could be the reason that Hungarians are the offspring of such brilliant ancestors, than their Martian origins?
This is the only way that they could have given so many things to humanity: the internet, the computer-language, modern aircraft, nuclear weapons, and other inventions.
I for one look upon this benign kind of nationalism with great sympathy, because it does not want to conquer other countries, it doesn’t lead to mass-graves and to trials before the UN Criminal Court. All it says is that we have to believe in ourselves – even if sometimes they think of us, and we feel likewise, that we perhaps came from Mars.”
ENRICO FERMI (1901-1954), Italian nuclear physicist, one of the leaders of the Manhattan Project:
When asked, if he believes in alien life-forms, Fermi replied: „They are already here… they are called Hungarians!”

And finally, opinions of two great Hungarian figures of history:

MIKLÓS ZRÍNYI (1620-1664) general, commander of the Habsburg armies in Hungary, leader of numerous victorious campaigns against the Turks:
„We are no worse than any other nation in the world.”

SÁNDOR PETŐFI (1823-1849) poet of the 1848 revolution:
„We too played on the great European stage, and not ours was the smallest role.”


http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/opinions-about-hungarians-part-iii--753847/1/20

[Szegedist]

Hungarians have an opinion on everything, so much so that it's said if you have three Hungarians in a room, they'll form four political parties.


:laugh: found this today, so true!

[Kiyant]

:laugh: found this today, so true!

Reminds me of Turks.........