Generals Quotations

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.

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.

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 decided that the political context is such that the only way reform will finally come about in the Russian military is that the deterioration goes beyond the point to which these old generals can stand up there and resist it.

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.

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.

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.

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

Like a lot of the great generals in wartime history, that's the best way to describe him.

One of the things that was clearly a part of the president's decision was that all of his generals were telling him it was time to leave,

Neglected by Congress below, distressed with the small-pox; want of Generals and discipline in our Army, which may rather be called a great rabble, our credit and reputation lost, and great part of the country; and a powerful foreign enemy advancing upon us, are so many difficulties we cannot surmount them.

If other attorney generals or tort lawyers follow the example of Rhode Island, it could ruin a whole industry.

If the governor were serious about ridding his administration of partisan patronage, he never would have pardoned them in the first place and would have cooperated with the Attorney Generals investigation,

My view is that the secretary should step aside. Besides the fact that the Iraq war has been mismanaged ... we should listen to what these generals are saying.

My vision for this book and the others in the series is to let people know what kind of commanders we have, ... You don't pick generals off park benches. ... They are experts at what they do and lot of thinking goes into it. And I want to get across to people the intellectual dimension of command, to let people know that it's hard to be a general. And the people we have with general stars on their shoulders are pretty smart and pretty good guys.

Some of the generals have said we can withdraw some of the troops. ... We have others saying, we're not going to leave. These people do not know what they are doing,

I went to Iraq as a listener. I just got tired of watching the news every night and hearing generals and politicians talking about the economics and the politics of the war, and never explaining the human cost of the war. I just wanted to go there and listen to people.

I think it was an awesome team effort, ... We helped bring it all together, but the credit really goes to Jim Dodson and the generals and other retired military officials who formed the strategic think tank to save Eielson.

I thought our players did a great job in their roles. They did what we expected. Athens is just a very, very good team. They always seem to play well against us (winning the season series 3-0-1 while outscoring the Generals 12-2).

We hope we will have for the first time actual documents of testimony from the tobacco industry that would demonstrate that the allegations that have been made by the 22 state attorney generals is in fact true, and will be major evidence in the many trials that are ongoing around this country.

There is a conflict, there's no question about it. The generals are unhappy.

We should reduce the number of generals and admirals to maintain the ratio of one senior officer per thousand servicemen.

We believe that decisions about where to position troops are best left to the experts, which are the generals and military leaders who are on the ground and have the experience to know best.

There are certainly generals out there who don't like me speaking out.

Conquering himself, he has learned that he can conquer the world of capital whose generals have been the most ruthless of his oppressors.

Northern Command's mission to protect the homeland against foreign threats is separate and distinct from its mission to provide support to civil agencies in the event of a terrorist attack of catastrophic proportions. So part of the confusion you're seeing is the natural shaking-out process as the Defense Department stands up a new command and adopts a new mission that most generals assumed with great reluctance in the first place, given that their forces and budgets were already stretched thin. In that sense, Admiral Keating's comments were probably less about someone gunning to take the lead, and more a reflection of how much support Northern Command will likely be asked to provide in the event of a real catastrophe.

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.

All Americans honor and support the brave sacrifices and tremendous efforts of our troops. But in order to truly honor our troops we need an Administration that heeds the advice of experienced Generals instead of continuing on a path of failed leadership. Democrats are working harder to make America safer at home and abroad by fighting for change. Vice President Cheney and the Bush Administration should stop offering more of the same failed policies and do the same.

That's like having the generals show up after the battle had already begun.

Enterprising generals and admirals will always find ways -- very good ways -- to spend more money.

I learned in the first poll we conducted after 9/11 that Americans still want their wars to be quick, they want them won and they want them over so the troops can come home, ... It's curious, but right now there's a mixed message coming out of Washington. The generals are saying we'll begin some troop withdrawal come hell or high water in 2006, but the president is saying we're going to stay there with as much force as we need until we get the job done. It's a contradiction.

I had the chance to visit with soldiers of all ranks, generals included, and this is the least we can do to let them know that their service and dedication to America and our freedom will never be forgotten.

At times we looked like the Washington Generals on defense. Their guys were wheeling around in the post and laying it in.

The Lansdowne was selected to ferry the Japanese ministers and generals from the Customs House Dock in Yokohama to the Missouri.

Can a series of lawful resignations turn into a mutiny? And if they are agreed upon in advance, have the agreeing generals formed a felonious conspiracy to make a mutiny?

I don't know how many generals there are. There are a couple thousand at least, and they're going to have opinions. It's not surprising, we're in a war.

Generals and admirals of the allied forces of the world, they were here with us, and we had a tremendous audience, and we were ready,

The Indonesian generals should know that their own efforts to thwart internal accountability and openness and inquiry are only going to result in greater pressure,

The cheery optimism of our generals always thought we were going forward, and therefore it was not worth while making ourselves comfortable and safe.

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.

It might be interesting to wonder why all the generals see it in the same way, and all those, who never fired a shot in anger and really held back to go to war, see it in a different way. That's usually the way it is in history.

This means that about 35,000 men of the non-combat personnel will be laid off within the next five years, including some staff members of military chairs and other dual-purpose structures. It is also planned to do away with three hundred high-rank command posts, after which the number of generals and admirals in the Armed Forces will not top 1,100 men, meaning their reduction to the optimal proportion of one per thousand servicemen,

The younger generation wants to see specialists, and doesn't believe everyone can move from job to job. The younger generation is more technocratic. The tendency of the old generals is to base the merits of people's worth on where they fought.

It may be his way of telling the generals to stop talking about drawing down the forces.

They were women then My mama's generation Husky of voice Stout of step With fists as well as Hands How they battered down Doors And ironed Starched white Shirts How they led Armies Headragged Generals Across mined Fields Booby trapped