Quotes by Military Leaders - Page 4

The will to conquer is the first condition of victory.
Marshal Ferdinand Foch
What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
No personal consideration should stand in the way of performing a public duty.
Ulysses S. Grant
We have fought this fight as long and as well as we know how. We have been defeated. For us as a Christian people there is now but one course to pursue. We must accept the situation.
Robert E. Lee
When you cannot make up your mind between two evenly balanced courses of action choose the bolder.
W. J. Slim
Let the tent be struck.
Robert E. Lee
Faced with crisis the man of character falls back on himself.
Charles de Gaulle
One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority.
Napoléon Bonaparte
A cowardly act! What do I care about that? You may be sure that I should never fear to commit one if it were to my advantage.
Napoleon
The peril of the hour moved the British to tremendous exertions just as always in a moment of extreme danger things can be done which had previously been thought impossible. Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas.
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Act and God will act.
Joan of Arc
Courage is like love it must have hope for nourishment.
Napoléon Bonaparte
Courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity or if it is insisted upon by a commander irresponsibility.
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
As a rule what is out of sight disturbs men's minds more seriously than what they see.
Julius Caesar
With audacity one can undertake anything.
Napoléon Bonaparte
As to moral courage I have very rarely met with the two o'clock in the morning kind. I mean unprepared courage that which is necessary on an unexpected occasion and which in spite of the most unforeseen events leaves full freedom of judgement and decision.
Napoléon Bonaparte
The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue courage is only the second virtue.
Napoléon Bonaparte
I love an opposition that has convictions.
Frederick the Great
I came I saw I conquered.
Julius Caesar
Be courteous to all but intimate with few and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.
George Washington
If you start to take Vienna take Vienna.
Napoléon Bonaparte
In war there is no substitute for victory.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Even now we can draw back. But once we cross that little bridge we must settle things by the sword.
Julius Caesar
How can you be expected to govern a country that has 246 kinds of cheese?
Charles de Gaulle
Alexander Caesar Charlemagne and I myself have founded empires but upon what do these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love and to this very day millions would die for Him.
Napoleon
And say to all the world "This was a man!"
Julius Caesar
In war events of importance are the result of trivial causes.
Julius Caesar
Call on a business man at business times only and on business transact your business and go about your business in order to give him time to finish his busmess.
Duke of Wellington
Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.
George Washington
Men willingly believe what they wish.
Julius Caesar
The bed has become a place of luxury to me! I would not exchange it for all the thrones in the world.
Napoleon
He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
Napoléon Bonaparte
Only those Americans who are willing to die for their country are fit to live.
Douglas MacArthur
Poor Mexico so far from God and so near to the United States.
Porfirio Diaz
There are only two forces that unite men - fear and interest.
Napoléon Bonaparte
When you appeal to force there's one thing you must never do - lose.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Deliberation is the work of many men. Action of one alone.
Charles de Gaulle
We have fought this fight as long and as well as we know how. We have been defeated. There is now but one course to pursue. We must accept the situation.
Robert E. Lee
Ability is of little account without opportunity.
Napoleon
Listen more to the one who criticizes you and less to the one who praises you. Learn from them and do something about it.
paul kagame
But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.
George Washington
If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.
Napoléon Bonaparte
Why, sir, in the beginning we appointed all our worst generals to command the armies, and all our best generals to edit the newspapers. As you know, I have planned some campaigns and quite a number of battles. I have given the work all the care and thought I could, and sometimes, when my plans were completed, as far as I could see, they seemed to be perfect. But when I have fought them through, I have discovered defects and occasionally wondered I did not see some of the defects in advance. When it was all over, I found by reading a newspaper that these best editor generals saw all the defects plainly from the start. Unfortunately, they did not communicate their knowledge to me until it was too late.” Then, after a pause, he added, with a beautiful, grave expression I can never forget: “I have no ambition but to serve the Confederacy, and do all I can to win our independence. I an willing to serve in any capacity to which the authorities may assign me. I have done the best I could in the field, and have not succeeded as I could wish. I am willing to yield my place to these best generals, and I will do my best for the cause in editing a newspaper.”In the same strain he once remarked to one of his generals: “Even as poor a soldier as I am can generally discover mistakes after it is all over. But if I could only induce these wise gentlemen who see them so clearly beforehand to communicate with me in advance, instead of waiting until the evil has come upon us, to let me know that they knew all the time, it would be far better for my reputation, and (what is of more consequence) far better for the cause.
Robert E. Lee
The real discoverer of South America was [Alexander von] Humboldt, since his work was more useful for our people than the work of all conquerors.
Simon Bolivar
You are remembered for the rules you break.
Douglas MacArthur
It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.
Napoléon Bonaparte
Only Americans can hurt America.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
If I were a Palestinian at the right age, I would have joined one of the terrorist organizations at a certain stage.
Ehud Barak
I like whiskey. I always did, and that is why I never drink it.
Robert E. Lee
Victory is a thing of the will.
Marshal Foch
An atheist is a man who watches a Notre Dame - Southern Methodist University game and doesn't care who wins.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
All motion is relative. Perhaps it is you who have moved away-by standing still
Robert E. Lee
As to your Newton, I confess I do not understand his void and his gravity; I admit he has demonstrated the movement of the heavenly bodies with more exactitude than his forerunners; but you will admit it is an absurdity to maintain the existence of No
Frederick the Great
Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
Charles de Gaulle
The nation which indulges toward another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to it animosity or two its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and it's interest.
George Washington
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.
George Washington
Ability is of little account without opportunity.
Napoléon Bonaparte
An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep.
Alexander the Great
After the 'war to end war' they seem to have been pretty successful in Paris at making a 'Peace to end Peace.
Archibald Wavell
In each succeeding war there is a tendency to proclaim as something new the principles under which it is conducted. Not only those who have never studied or experienced the realities of war, but also professional soldiers frequently fall into the error. But the principles of warfare as I learned them at West Point remain unchanged.
John J. Pershing