Robert McNamara Quotes

Despise the enemy strategically, but take him seriously tactically.

To think about attacking is also to think about positioning.

Those who prepare for war get it.

I have every confidence in the ultimate success of our joint cause; but success in modern war requires something more than courage and a willingness to die: it requires careful preparation.

In peace, a wise man makes preparations for war.

The only hope of a short war is to prepare for a long one.

But the enemy has the move, and he is about to open his full game. And pawns are as likely to see as much of it as any. Sharpen your blade!

As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time. Since the Iraq conflict began, the Army has been pressing ahead to produce the armor necessary at a rate that they believe - it's a greatly expanded rate from what existed previously, but a rate that they believe is the rate that is all that can be accomplished at this moment.

The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.

To secure peace is to prepare for war.

My father had risen in the British Army under the revolutionary aegis of General Montgomery, who was mad about training for battle, not muddling into disaster.

It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.

In time of peace prepare for war.

Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive one; it is man and not materials that counts.

If we are going to win the next war, in my opinion, 50 percent of the time of training should be allotted to night training.

It can’t be any other than madness to commence hostilities before we have established resources on a sure plan for certain and effectual military supplies. Men in that case will not be wanting.

The Commonwealth of Venice in their armoury have this inscription, "Happy is that city which in time of peace thinks of war.

Anyone who takes the first step without planning the last step should not be allowed in the counsels of war.

A certain degree of preparation for war ... affords also the best security for the continuance of peace.

Our military plans for everything.

There is no point in hiding that before the war we mostly learned to attack, and did not pay enough attention to such an important maneuver as retreat. Now we have paid for this. It turned out that the commanders and the staff were not sufficiently prepared to prepare and execute the retreat maneuver. Now, in the second week of war, we had in fact to learn from the beginning the most difficult art - the art of the execution of retreat.

There is no shorter road to defeat than by entering a war with inadequate preparation.

What we can afford least is to define the problem of future war as we would like it to be and, by doing so, introduce into our defense vulnerabilities based on self-delusion.

Strategy is the most important department of the art of war, and strategical skill is the highest and rarest function of military genius.