Robert M. Gates Quotes

America has wearied of Middle East War.

The Iraqis, because they had become so tired of war, they were very peaceful and easy to work with. But the Syrian children—–the boys—–they have this idea, "We have to go back to Syria to fight": They hear this constantly from their fathers—–you're going to be a soldier and go back to Syria—–so they're little rebels, not little kids. It's all about ... how they need to go back and avenge what happened.

I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.

I hope my own children never have to fight a war.

The strike weapon is overboard, not only for the duration of the war, but after the war too.

When a nation is at war many things that might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance to its efforts that their utterance will not be endured.

Believe me, Germany is unable to wage war.

The sad reality of war is that if you are going to be in day-to-day combat, there are going to be casualties.

No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

In 2 wars [Afghanistan and Iraq] victory seemed to be measured not in terms of when the United States would prevail, but by when it would be able to leave.

The troops are at war, but the Pentagon is not.

Wars once begun drag on in perpetuity.

We convinced him quickly that the possibility of war was absolutely nil and continued our festivity. On the next day we were ordered to take the field.

We're living through a time where we are fighting wars fostered by politics, admittedly not on the same scale as the First World War, but with equally tragic realities for our soldiers and their families.

But it cannot follow that because weapons and troops are now being deployed we are bound to go to war.

If it were not for the war, this war would suit me down to the ground.

Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes.

In time of war the laws are silent.

If Japan had been near to either England or France, war would have broken out long ago.

You know what I had a problem with? The war - the war in Afghanistan.

In time of war steamships and improved arms are the most important things.

There is no such thing as a politically correct war.

War consisteth not in battle only, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known.

As someone who has seen war first hand, and as a father of three young adults, it was my hope that we could have resolved this conflict and disarmed Saddam Hussein without war. However, this was not the case.

The unvarnished truth is that we have spent the last decade funding the machinery of war, and our children have been sacrificed.