Be an example to your men in your duty and in private life. Never spare yourself, and let the troops see that you don't, in your endurance of fatigue and privation. Always be tactful and well-mannered and teach your subordinates to be the same. Avoid excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide." - Meaning and context.">
QuotesCosmos
Address as Director of the Military School in Wiener Neustadt at the passing out parade of the 1938 class of cadets.
• A note by General Bayerlein in the Rommel Papers (1953), edited by Basil Henry Liddell Hart. p. 241.
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Be an example to your men in your duty and in private life. Never spare yourself, and let the troops see that you don't, in your endurance of fatigue and privation. Always be tactful and well-mannered and teach your subordinates to be the same. Avoid excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide.

— Erwin Rommel

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Be an example to your men in your duty and in private life. Never spare yourself, and let the troops see that you don't, in your endurance of fatigue and privation. Always be tactful and well-mannered and teach your subordinates to be the same. Avoid excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide." in the context of "Address as Director of the Military School in Wiener Neustadt at the passing out parade of the 1938 class of cadets.
• A note by General Bayerlein in the Rommel Papers (1953), edited by Basil Henry Liddell Hart. p. 241." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Erwin Rommel" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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#Erwin Rommel#wellmannered#subordinates#shortcomings#endurance#privation#excessive#sharpness#harshness#indicates#yourself#example
Erwin Rommel

About Erwin Rommel

Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German Field Marshal and commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps in World War II, widely referred to as The Desert Fox (Der Wüstenfuchs). Linked to a conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler, he was ordered to commit suicide with a cyanide pill, in return for assurances that his family would not be persecuted following his death.