Poland

Poland – that is to say, nowhere.
— Alfred Jarry

Poland is a country in Central Europe.

Sourced

Wielka mnogość religii, które się w nich roją, zwłaszcza w Polsce, o której mówią przysłowiowo, że jeżeli ktoś utracił swoją religię, to niechaj jej poszukuje w Polsce, a znajdzie ją z pewnością. Jeśli nie, to będzie mógł uznać, że zniknęła ze świata.
- Great wealth of religions existing, especially in Poland, about which they say that if someone has lost religion, let them search it in Poland and they will find it there, surely. If not, they are to think that the religion disappeared from the face of the Earth.
- Sir Edward Sandys
State without stakes
- Janusz Tazbir

Przeciw szlachcie ani duchowieństwo, ani sam król nie był w stanie nic postanowić.
- Against Polish gentry, no one - nor the priesthood, nor king - could stand on their way.
- Jan Mączyński

Who only knows Latin can go across the whole Poland from one side to the other one just like he was at his own home, just like he was born there. So great happiness! I wish a traveler in England could travel without knowing any other language than Latin!
- Daniel Defoe, 1728
- Norman Davies, 'God's Playground', 2000.

And said Poland: "Whoever comes to me, will be free and equal, because I am FREEDOM."
- Adam Mickiewicz, The Books of the Polish Nation

Poland has been a source of trouble for over five hundred years.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a conversation with Winston Churchill in Yalta in 1945. Reported in Churchill, Winston (1986). The Second World War, Volume 6: Triumph and Tragedy. Mariner Books.

Quant à l'action qui va commencer, elle se passe en Pologne, c’est-à-dire nulle part.
- As to the action which is about to begin, it takes place in Poland – that is to say, nowhere.
- Introduction to the premier of Ubu Roi in Paris in 1896. Quoted in Jarry, Alfred; transl. Beverly Keith and Gershon Legman (2003). Ubu Roi. Dover Publications.

There are few virtues which the Poles do not possess and there are few errors they have ever avoided.
- Winston Churchill, in the House of Commons, after the Potsdam Conference. Quoted in Churchill, Winston Spencer (2005). Maxims and Reflections. Kessinger Publishing.

The soul of Poland is indestructible... she will rise again as a rock, which may for a spell be submerged by a tidal wave, but which remains a rock.
- Winston Churchill, in the House of Commons, 1 October 1939. Quoted in Churchill, Winston Spencer (2005). Maxims and Reflections. Kessinger Publishing.

Un polonais – c'est un charmeur; deux polonais – une bagarre; trois polonais, eh bien, c'est la question polonaise.
- One Pole is a charmer; two Poles – a brawl; three Poles – well, this is the Polish Question.
- Voltaire, quoted in Davies, Norman (1996). Europe: A History. Oxford University Press.

Well, actually, he forgot Poland.
- George W. Bush, about John Kerry enumerating U.S. allies during a presidential debate in 2004
- The First Bush-Kerry Presidential Debate. Commission on Presidential Debates. Retrieved on 2009-09-05.

We shall soon have the scenes of the Polish Diets and elections re-acted here, and in not many years the fate of Poland may be that of United America.
- Charles Pinckney, speech to the U.S. Congress in 1800 about presidential elections. Quoted in Vile, John R. (2005). The Constitutional Convention of 1787: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of America's Founding. ABC-CLIO.

With respect to us, Poland might be, in fact, considered as a country in the moon.
- Edmund Burke, in a parliamentary debate about Britain's war against France. Quoted in Cobbett, William; John Wright, Thomas Curson Hansard (1817). The parliamentary history of England, from the earliest period to the year 1803. T.C. Hansard for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown.

Żeby Polska była Polską.
- Let Poland be Poland.
- Jan Pietrzak, Polish comedian. Title of a patriotic song written in 1976 which became an informal anthem of the Solidarity movement in the 1980s.
- Polish National Hymns, Anthems, and Patriotic Songs. The Polish Academic Information Center. Retrieved on 2009-09-05.

Через труп белой Польши лежит путь к мировому пожару.
- (Cherez trup beloy Pol'shi lezhit put' k mirovomu pozharu.)
- Over the corpse of White Poland lies the road to world-wide conflagration.
- Mikhail Tukhachevsky, order of Russian invasion of Poland in 1920. Quoted in Davies, Norman (1996). Europe: A History. Oxford University Press.

I judged the Poles by their enemies. And I found it was an almost unfailing truth that their enemies were the enemies of magnanimity and manhood. If a man loved slavery, if he loved usury, if he loved terrorism and all the trampled mire of materialistic politics, I have always found that he added to these affections the passion of a hatred of Poland. She could be judged in the light of that hatred; and the judgment has proved to be right.
- Gilbert K. Chesterton, British writer, in Introduction to Letters on Polish Affairs by Charles Sarolea (1922)

In this country [Poland] I would like only one thing: to stay here...
- Hugo Steinhaus

It is a very beautiful country. Now I understand why one can love it so much.
- Pierre Curie, while visiting Poland

Poland is a hell for peasants, a purgatory for townsmen, a gold mine for foreigners, a heaven for nobles and a paradise for Jews.
- A saying from the First German Dictionary

(...) the Poland of the fifteenth century was one of the most civilised states of Europe.
- Poland. A historical sketch (1885)
- Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, German General Field Marshal