Leadership means firmness, not harshness or bullying; understanding, not weakness; justice, not irresponsible freedom; humaneness, not intolerance; generosity, not selfishness; pride, not egotism.
War: A wretched debasement of all the pretenses of civilization.
Only one military organization can hold and gain ground in war-a ground army supported by tactical aviation with supply lines guarded by the navy.
A piece of paper makes you an officer, a radio makes you a commander.
The way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts.
As far as I am concerned, war itself is immoral.
If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.
Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living.
In war there is no second prize for the runner-up.
Airpower has become predominant, both as a deterrent to war, and-in the eventuality of war-as the devastating force to destroy an enemy’s potential and fatally undermine his will to wage war.
Peace is our goal but preparedness is the price we must pay.
The nation needs men who think in terms of service to their country and not in terms of their country’s debt to them.
Our humanity is trapped by moral adolescents. We have too many men of science, too few men of God. The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom and power without conscience.
We are dealing with veterans, not procedures; with their problems, not ours.
With the monstrous weapons man already has, humanity is in danger of being trapped in this world by its moral adolescents.
The greatest leader in the world could never win a campaign unless he understood the men he had to lead.
It seems very unfortunate that in order to secure political preference, people are made Vice President who are never intended, neither by party nor by the Lord, to be Presidents.
Every member of our baseball team at West Point became a general: this proves the value of team sports.
I am convinced that the best service a retired general can perform is to turn in his tongue along with his suit and to mothball his opinions.
Each player on this team whether he shines in the spotlight or eats dirt on the line, must be an All-American.