Quote:
I actually have two quotes, but they’re part of the same conversation. They don’t make sense without each other.
That’s impossible! The Americans only know how to make razor blades.
-Hermann Göring
We could do with some of those razor blades, Herr Reichsmarshall.
-Erwin Rommel
This quote was (allegedly) made during the Second World War, after German general Erwin Rommel briefed Hitler on why his attack at Alam el Halfa failed. Rommel stressed the superiority of the Royal Air Force as the reason why the German forces were repelled here, and that prompted Göring to bring up the question.
I love Rommel’s subtly sarcastic attitude towards Göring. We’ve all had those days when something goes wrong, such as when you lose a strategic battle to the British and your plans for domination in North Africa are ruined. I’ve had those days, too. Sometimes, you just need to let out the negativity by projecting it onto someone else, preferably someone you dislike. Although he was a WW1 air ace, Göring had been promoted to commander-in-chief of the German Luftwaffe mainly due to his close connections with Hitler, and therefore never really earned the respect of the generals he commanded. In this quote, it seems like Rommel is trying to find a reason for his defeat at Alam el Halfa so he doesn’t land in hot water which, to be fair, isn’t unreasonable. If you were a military commander in Nazi Germany and you just lost a strategic battle, you wouldn’t want to be blamed for the failure.
I feel like I can really relate to Rommel in this context. Some days you just don’t want to be tested, and when someone does try to test you you need to show them not to mess. Since Göring was Rommel’s superior, obviously Rommel couldn’t’ve said anything particularly horrible to him. This reminds me of some days, when I’m in a particularly foul mood, when some teachers(mainly in middle school) feel like they need to give me some more negativity by landing me in trouble for ridiculously small things. I once got in trouble because the teacher had asked a question I didn’t know the answer to even though I didn’t raise my hand. She got mad at me for not responding quickly enough, and for talking slowly to her(she thought I was patronizing her). I talked slowly because I didn’t want to get anything wrong, hello? It’s on days like this that you really need to let out some negative energy, possibly through overt sarcasm.
I also picked this quote because it’s pretty funny in a weird way. I really can’t describe why I find it funny. It just is. Maybe it’s because of the sass that went into this phrase. I still love it.