Top 101 Generals Quotes

When I joined the U.S. Army Reserve in 1992, there were no female four-star generals. I still remember the day in 2008 when a woman first achieved that rank.

At the age of four with paper hats and wooden swords we’re all Generals. Only some of us never grow out of it.

Abraham Lincoln went through 12 generals before he got Ulysses S. Grant. He had never done a Civil War before.

There’s a long tradition in this country of questioning generals.

Abraham Lincoln went through 12 generals before he got Ulysses S. Grant. He had never done a Civil War before.

We’ve had enough of the generals and movie stars. We want to hear about the ordinary people.

I’ve interviewed presidents and royalty, rock stars and movie stars, famous generals and captains of industry; I’ve had front row seats at Super Bowls, World Series, and Olympic Games; my books have been on best-seller lists, and my marriage is a long-running success.

I haven’t mentioned another argument, The Hague tribunal. It is clear our generals and all of you who are sitting here now with me could end up there, too.

There are a number of World War II historians I admire: Cornelius Ryan, Mark Stoler, Antony Beevor, to name a few. As for generals, there are those I admire as combat leaders and others I admire because they’re great fun to write about.

Then, again, the ability to organize and conduct industrial, commercial, or financial enterprises is rare; the great captains of industry are as rare as great generals.

If the U.S. wants to destroy ISIS, it can destroy ISIS. We won’t end terrorism around the world. But we can destroy ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Prominent generals are telling us that. Prominent national-security strategists are telling us that. So let’s do it.

Politicians, like generals, have a tendency to fight the last war.

Generals don’t panic; then the troops never panic.

Some of the generals are saying, ‘We’re making progress. We are clearing an area.’ But you really don’t defeat the Taliban by clearing an area. They move.

Generals think war should be waged like the tourneys of the Middle Ages. I have no use for knights; I need revolutionaries.

Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and that is the test of generals.

Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.

Those who have accomplished great things in the world have been, as a rule, bold, aggressive, and self-confident. They dared to step out from the crowd and act in an original way. They were not afraid to be generals.

You’re beginning to hear the tale of the common man and woman rather than the traditional memoir about the generals who just finished the war or the politicians who just rendered glorious service to the country.

I can make more generals, but horses cost money.

In 2001, we didn’t have an army; we had remnants of a dissolved army that had no hope. Our generals had literally become busboys.

The great actors we had came from the actor-manager theaters. Not only did they create a team, they were the generals working with the soldiers.

The episode of the ‘shoe bomber,’ Richard Reid, has suddenly meant more feet being bared at airports than at the average Hindu temple. My solution has been to replace my customary lace-up Oxfords with a pair of slip-on loafers when I fly. Generals are always fighting the last war, and security screeners are the same.

You look around the world in 2013, and you say, ‘How many prime ministers or presidents are in prison?’ One or two. ‘How many generals or bankers?’ Two or three. ‘But how many writers?’ 850 or so.

War coverage should be more than a parade of retired generals and retired government flacks posing as reporters.

Generals aren’t in the business of commenting on the correctness or incorrectness of the President’s decisions. Anybody who thinks he should be able to do that ought to be fired on the spot.

The great actors we had came from the actor-manager theaters. Not only did they create a team, they were the generals working with the soldiers.

As the First World War made painfully clear, when politicians and generals lead nations into war, they almost invariably assume swift victory, and have a remarkably enduring tendency not to foresee problems that, in hindsight, seem obvious.

Our political leaders, our top generals, our military brass, our national security apparatus are grossly incompetent or, worse, corrupt.

I have some strategical vision, I could calculate some few moves ahead and I have an intellect that is badly missed in the country which is run by generals and colonels.

Our generals talk a good game about taking care of their grunts, and the majority of our Beltway politicians bay with moralistic fervor about how they, too, support the troops.

I’ve interviewed presidents and royalty, rock stars and movie stars, famous generals and captains of industry; I’ve had front row seats at Super Bowls, World Series, and Olympic Games; my books have been on best-seller lists, and my marriage is a long-running success.

Success in past U.S. conflicts has not been strictly the result of military leadership but rather the judgment of the president in choosing generals and setting broad strategy.

When I joined the U.S. Army Reserve in 1992, there were no female four-star generals. I still remember the day in 2008 when a woman first achieved that rank.

Everyone says they support our troops and thank you for their service, if they really want to support their troops, demand better. Demand that their sacrifice not be wasted. That we not just muddle along as some of the generals have called for.

Some of the generals are saying, ‘We’re making progress. We are clearing an area.’ But you really don’t defeat the Taliban by clearing an area. They move.

Legend has it that when Franco’s troops crushed Catalonia in 1939, relegating it for the next thirty-five years to abuse and neglect, one of his generals was asked what more he could possibly want now that he had Barcelona.

There are a number of World War II historians I admire: Cornelius Ryan, Mark Stoler, Antony Beevor, to name a few. As for generals, there are those I admire as combat leaders and others I admire because they’re great fun to write about.

Surgeon generals are appointed by presidents, but our work isn’t about politics. Our highest duty to to the public. Our true guide is science. Our job is to speak the truth about public health, even when it’s controversial or perceived as political.

I worked for the troops my entire time in the United States Armed Forces because we know in the United States Armed Forces that it’s not the generals and the colonels that win battles, it’s the soldiers: it’s the people at the front, the mechanics with their wrenches, the drivers moving the logistics back in the rear.

As the First World War made painfully clear, when politicians and generals lead nations into war, they almost invariably assume swift victory, and have a remarkably enduring tendency not to foresee problems that, in hindsight, seem obvious.

It is not the business of generals to shoot one another.

The episode of the ‘shoe bomber,’ Richard Reid, has suddenly meant more feet being bared at airports than at the average Hindu temple. My solution has been to replace my customary lace-up Oxfords with a pair of slip-on loafers when I fly. Generals are always fighting the last war, and security screeners are the same.

America’s exceptional nature confers upon us responsibilities. We are not exceptional because we say so; we are exceptional because, over and over, we do exceptional things – things like what Generals Marshall and MacArthur accomplished putting Europe and Japan back on their feet after World War II.

Health, money. That’s what people worried about in the 14th century as much as today. I find it so much more interesting than the supposed activities of kings, queens, generals.

Let judges secretly despair of justice: their verdicts will be more acute. Let generals secretly despair of triumph; killing will be defamed. Let priests secretly despair of faith: their compassion will be true.

It’s always the generals with the bloodiest records who are the first to shout what a hell it is. And it’s always the war widows who lead the Memorial Day parades.

It is not the business of generals to shoot one another.

When Lincoln ran into trouble during the Civil War, he got new generals. He brought in Grant. I hope that President Obama will bring in some new generals on the financial front.

I’m actually writing history. It isn’t what you’d call big history. I don’t write about presidents and generals… I write about the man who was ranching, the man who was mining, the man who was opening up the country.

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.

One of the most missed components of the entire insurgency in Iraq was that Syria and Bashar al-Assad facilitated Al Qaeda’s operations in Iraq. They actually headquartered the Iraq Ba’ath Party and all of their escaped generals in Damascus.