Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I see no reason to suppose these machines will ever force themselves into general use.
If you had seen one day of war, you would pray to God that you would never see another.
I have got an infamous army, very weak and ill-equipped, and a very inexperienced staff.
I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but by God, they frighten me.
I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they frighten me.
An extraordinary affair. I gave them their orders and they wanted to stay and discuss them.
I used to say of him that his presence on the field made the difference of forty thousand men.
I used to say of Napoleon that his presence on the field made the difference of forty thousand men.
I attribute my success on the battlefield to always being on the spot to see and do everything for myself
Troops would never be deficient in courage, if they could only know how deficient in it their enemies were.
When other Generals make mistakes their armies are beaten; when I get into a hole, my men pull me out of it.
To define it rudely but not ineptly, engineering is the art of doing for 10 shillings what any fool can do for a pound
The British soldiers are fellows who have all enlisted for drink. That is the plain fact - they have all enlisted for drink.
I acknowledge that I should not like to see again such loss as I sustained on the 23rd September, even if attended by such a gain.
You must build your House of Parliament on the river: so... that the populace cannot exact their demands by sitting down round you.
As Lord Chesterfield said of the generals of his day, 'I only hope that when the enemy reads the list of their names, he trembles as I do.
As Lord Chesterfield said of the generals of his day, 'I only hope that when the enemy reads the list of their names, he trembles as I do.'
During the Peninsula War, I heard a Portuguese general address his troops before a battle with the words, "Remember men, you are Portuguese!"
Call on a business man only at business times, and on business; transact your business, and go about your business, in order to give him time to finish his business.
I hate the whole race. There is no believing a word they say, your professional poets, I mean there never existed a more worthless set than Byron and his friends for example.
All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavour to find out what you don't know by what you do; that's what I called 'guess what was at the other side of the hill'.
My heart is broken by the terrible loss I have sustained in my old friends and companions and my poor soldiers. Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.
The French system of conscription brings together a fair sample of all classes; ours is composed of the scum of the earth - the mere scum of the earth. It is only wonderful that we should be able to make so much out of them afterwards.
As a member of the Protestant British squirearchy ruling Ireland, he was touchy about his Irish origins. When in later life an enthusiastic Gael commended him as a famous Irishman, he replied "A man can be born in a stable, and yet not be an animal.
I am not only not prepared to bring forward any measure of this nature, but I will at once declare that, as far as I am concerned, as long as I hold any station in the Government of the country, I shall always feel it my duty to resist such measures when proposed by others.
It is very true that I have said that I considered Napoleon's presence in the field equal to forty thousand men in the balance. This is a very loose way of talking; but the idea is a very different one from that of his presence at a battle being equal to a reinforcement of forty thousand men.
Today when a man gets married he gets a home, a housekeeper, a cook, a cheering squad and another paycheck. When a woman marries, she gets a boarder. To define it rudely but not ineptly, engineering is the art of doing that well with one dollar, which any bungler can do with two after a fashion.
Just to show you how little reliance can be placed even on what are supposed the best accounts of a battle, I mention that there are some circumstances mentioned in General -'s account which did not occur as he relates them. It is impossible to say when each important occurrence took place, or in what order.
The history of a battle, is not unlike the history of a ball. Some individuals may recollect all the little events of which the great result is the battle won or lost, but no individual can recollect the order in which, or the exact moment at which, they occurred, which makes all the difference as to their value or importance.