Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I haven't yet figured out how I was made first captain, because I was not an outstanding student. I was an adequate student.
As your mother tells you, and my mother certainly told me, it is important, she always used to say, always to try new things.
The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.
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.
We should always go before our enemies with confidence, otherwise our apparent uneasiness inspires them with greater boldness.
If you wage war, do it energetically and with severity. This is the only way to make it shorter and consequently less inhuman.
Cossacks are the best light troops among all that exist. If I had them in my army, I would go through all the world with them.
Democracy may become frenzied, but it has feelings and can be moved. As for aristocracy, it is always cold and never forgives.
Anytime it was advertised that I was going to be at a particular place, the radicals would be there, the cameras with TV news.
In war the only sure defense is offense, and the efficiency of the offense depends on the warlike souls of those conducting it.
The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.
All the great captains have performed vast achievements by conforming with the rules of art--by adjusting efforts to obstacles.
Artillery is more essential to cavalry than to infantry, because cavalry has no fire for its defence, but depends on the sabre.
It is my wish that my ashes may repose on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people, whom I have loved so well.
The Marine Corps has just been called by the New York Times, 'The elite of this country.' I think it is the elite of the world.
This was a type of war that we'd had no experience with before. Some of our policies were kind of trial and error in character.
If we are to have a war with America, we will have no hope of winning unless the U.S. fleet in Hawaiian waters can be destroyed.
England would be better off without Canada; it keeps her in a prepared state for war at a great expense and constant irritation.
In the last analysis, one must be a military man in order to govern. It is only with boot and spurs that one can govern a horse.
There are no great men, just great circumstances, and how they handle those circumstances will determine the outcome of history.
I've made this statement many times: If I would have to do it over again, I would have made known the forthcoming Tet Offensive.
By the end of the summer of 1973 I thought it was virtually impossible for South Vietnam to survive. How in the heck could they?
My people and I have come to an agreement which satisfies us both. They are to do what they please, and I am to do what I please.
Why is it that all battles are fought in the middle of the night, in downpouring rain, and at the corners of four different maps?
A form of government that is not the result of a long sequence of shared experiences, efforts, and endeavors can never take root.
A victorious general must know how to employ severity, justness, and mildness by turns, if he would allay sedition or prevent it.
Are you still to learn that the end and perfection of our victories is to avoid the vices and infirmities of those whom we subdue?
While we are guarding the country, we must accept being the guardian of the finest ethics. The country needs it and we must do it.
My people and I have come to an agreement which satisfied us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.
The most difficult art is not in the choice of men, but in giving to the men chosen the highest service of which they are capable.
You would make a ship sail against the winds and currents by lighting a bonfire under her decks? I have no time for such nonsense.
When a man is a favorite of Fortune she never takes him unawares, and, however astonishing her favors may be, she finds him ready.
A true master of politics is able to calculate, down to the smallest fraction, the advantages to which he may put his very faults.
You cannot drag a man's conscience before any tribunal, and no one is answerable for his religious opinions to any power on earth.
Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible; and when you strike and overcome him, never let up in the pursuit...
There aren't any great men. There are just great challenges that ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet.
My wife was my greatest asset. I didn't marry her until after World War II, but she has complemented me in every job I've ever had
I appeal to you as a soldier to spare me the humiliation of seeing my regiment march to meet the enemy and I not share its dangers.
Never break the neutrality of a port or place, but never consider as neutral any place from whence an attack is allowed to be made.
There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.
My wife was my greatest asset. I didn't marry her until after World War II, but she has complemented me in every job I've ever had.
Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it.
It is like a disease to think that an invincible status has been achieved after being satisfied with the past successful operations.
Remember that a man, a true man, never hates. His rages and his bad moods never last beyond the present moment-like electric shocks.
There is no class of people so hard to manage in a state, as those whose intentions are honest, but whose consciences are bewitched.
There are two kinds of fidelity, that of dogs and that of cats; you, gentleman, have the fidelity of cats who never leave the house.
The spectacle of a field of battle after the combat, is sufficient to inspire Princes with the love of peace, and the horror of war.
Try to begin things you feel you can do. To begin is enough-there is a boldness in beginning. And in boldness lies genius and magic.
When the soldiers came home from Vietnam, there were no parades, no celebrations. So they built the Vietnam Memorial for themselves.
The greatest and noblest pleasure which we have in this world is to discover new truths, and the next is to shake off old prejudices.