Words matter. These are the best Isoroku Yamamoto Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
The most important thing we have to do first of all in a war with the U.S., I firmly believe, is to fiercely attack and destroy the U.S. main fleet at the outset of the war so that the morale of the U.S. Navy and her people goes down to such an extent that it cannot be recovered.
To fight the United States is like fighting the whole world. But it has been decided. So I will fight the best I can.
People who don’t gamble aren’t worth talking to.
If a war breaks out with the United States, the navy will have to put all its strength into interceptive operations, so… massive sea-borne supplies might be momentarily interrupted.
I sincerely desire to be appointed Commander in Chief of the air fleet to attack Pearl Harbor so that I may personally command that attack force.
In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success.
Never tell anyone outside my staff that the Submarine Force and the First Air Fleet were responsible for the failure at Midway. The failure at Midway was mine.
I entered the navy with the great ambition of becoming a naval soldier and going to war. Either I die from this festering wound – because I refuse to have my arm amputated – or I recover from it and continue being a soldier. I have a one-in-two chance, and I shall bet my life on it!
Even a burglar hesitates to go back for more.
A man of real purpose puts his faith in himself always. Sometimes he refuses even to put his faith in the gods. So from time to time, he falls into error.
The example afforded before the Great War by Germany – which, if only it had exercised forbearance for another five or ten years, would by now be unrivaled in Europe – suggests that the task facing us now is to build up our strength calmly and with circumspection.
Anyone who has seen the auto factories in Detroit and the oil fields in Texas knows that Japan lacks the national power for a naval race with America.
It is like a disease to think that an invincible status has been achieved after being satisfied with the past successful operations.
A military man can scarcely pride himself on having smitten a sleeping enemy; it is more a matter of shame, simply, for the one smitten.
I was once the captain of Akagi, and it is with heartfelt regret that I must now order that she be sunk.
