Quote Archive

Great Quotations Related to The Elements, Strategy and Politics of War and The Weapons of War

"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat; who strives valiantly; who errs and may fail again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who does know the great enthusiasm, the great devotion; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt
Quote contributed by Arch Nissel, Special Operation Detachment-E.

"Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography."
- Paul Rodriguez

"If the law and society cannot protect the citizen, it must not overlook the possibility that he may decide to protect himself."
– George MacDonald Fraser, The Hollywood History of the World
Thanks to Alan Platt for sending us this quote.

"A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well."
Rick Hebert

"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival."
Sir Winston Churchill 1940

"Victory shifts from man to man."
Homer 700 B.C.

"The police establishment does not pretend that it can protect every citizen from every fatal or crippling assault. Indeed, there are many state and local governments whose ability to protect their constituents has actually declined."
Masaad F. Ayoob from his book In The Gravest Extreme

"Even when someone battles hard, there is an equal portion for one who lingers behind, and in the same honor are held both the coward and the brave man; the idle man and he who has done much meet death alike."
Homer 700 B.C.

"The biggest mistake of my life was taking a military education."
General Robert E. Lee, Confederate States of America

"There is strength in the union even of very sorry men."
Homer 700 B.C.

"The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle's own plumes. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction."
Aesop-The Eagle and the Arrow 550 B.C.

"War never slays a bad man in its course, but the good always."
Sophocles 450 B.C.

"He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt, and his only mission each time he went up was to come down alive."
Joseph Heller from his book Catch-22 1961

"The test of any man lies in action."
Pindar 450 B.C.

"Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a Freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth."
George Washington 1780

"Force has no place where there is need of skill."
Herodotus 450 B.C.

"A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality."
John F. Kennedy 1956

"In soft regions are born soft men."
Herodotus 450 B.C.

"Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result."
Sir Winston Churchill 1898

"[They] are not wont to ask how many the enemy are, but where they are."
Agis 400 B.C.

"The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet go out to meet it, nonetheless."
Thucydides 430 B.C.

"This is what extremely grieves us, that a man who never fought should determine our taxes, one who for his native land never to this day had oar, or lance, or blister in his hand."
Aristophanes 400 B.C.

"The wise learn many things from their enemies."
Aristophanes 400 B.C.

"My family history begins with me, but yours ends with you."
Iphicrates 380 B.C. a self-made general speaking to a man of nobility

"But how many battle-ships do you reckon my presence to be worth?"
Antigonus 350 B.C. when told that the enemy's ships greatly outnumbered his own

"The root of the state is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its head."
Mencius 300 B.C.

"A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective."
Sun-tzu 300 B.C.

"The best victory is when the opponent surrenders of its own accord before there are any actual hostilities.... It is best to win without fighting."
Sun-tzu 300 B.C.

"Another victory over the Romans like this and we will be undone!"
Pyrrhus 300 B.C. hence the phrase "Pyrrhic victory"

"discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all."
George Washington 1780

"To be turned from one's course by men's opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold an office."
Quintus Maximus 250 B.C.

"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win."
Sun-tzu 300 B.C.

"You know how to win a victory, Hannibal, but not how to use it."
Barca the Carthaginian 210 B.C. A commander under Hannibal who criticized his leader's decision to give his opponent time to recover.

"Fortune favors the brave."
Virgil 50 B.C.

"From the Far East I send you one single thought, one sole idea, written in blood on every beachhead from Australia to Tokyo- 'In war there is no substitute for victory.'"
General Douglas MacArthur 1951

"I came, I saw, I conquered."
Julius Caesar 50 B.C.

"Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of the men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory."
General George S. Patton September 1933

"The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die."
George Washington 1776

"Law stands mute in the midst of arms."
Cicero 50 B.C.

"War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen and unsupposed circumstances . . . that no human wisdom can calculate the end. It has but one thing certain, and that is to increase taxes."
Thomas Paine 1800

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."
George Washington 1780

"All's fair in love and war."
F. Edward Smedley 1865

"Don't fight forces; use them." and "Either man is obsolete or war is."
R. Buckminster Fuller