Abraham Lincoln Quotes

He is a butcher, and is not fit to be at the head of an army.

I think no commander ever is going to come out and say, 'I'm confident that we can do this.'

One mediocre general is better than two good ones.

I don’t see how our country can produce such men as Robert E. Lee, John J Pershing, Eisenhower and Bradley and at the same time produce Custers, Pattons, and MacArthurs.

There has never been a military commander in history who didn’t want more men for a longer time …

General McClellan argues indefinite procrastination.

Napoleon wanted his generals to be lucky. I don't think he would have worked with me.

Hannibal knew better how to conquer than how to profit by the conquest; and Napoleon was more skilful in taking positions than in maintaining them. As to reverses, no general cart presume to say that he may not be defeated; but he can, and ought to say, that he will not be surprised.

I fancy that no good ideas upon that campaign will be mentioned at any time that did not receive their share of consideration by General Lee.

Success in past U.S. conflicts has not been strictly the result of military leadership but rather the judgment of the president in choosing generals and setting broad strategy.

A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him.

Replacing General McChrystal with David Petraeus was a good first step, but more will be needed.

The art of coalition command - whether it is here in Afghanistan, whether it was in Iraq or in Bosnia or in Haiti - is to take the resources you are provided with, understand what the strengths and weaknesses are and to employ them to the best overall effect.

CEOs resign when the internal dynamics of the company and the external dynamics of the company actually come together to say it is appropriate. When the internal dynamics ask you whether you have a replacement. I think the transition from CEOships have also become cartoonish.

I submit that those who run the American military at the top, and those whose boots are on the ground and who run the machinery and equipment, are sending a signal: You asked us to do something. Give us some time and we will solve the problems and we will do it.

There are a number of World War II historians I admire: Cornelius Ryan, Mark Stoler, Antony Beevor, to name a few. As for generals, there are those I admire as combat leaders and others I admire because they're great fun to write about.

At the beginning, Lincoln was so inexperienced he had reverence for military expertise, not realizing that there wasn't any military expertise, that the most anybody had commanded up to that point had been somebody, some troops in the Mexican War, and it had been years ago.

The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to make good generals. We are first, therefore, to seek them blindfold, and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great losses.

Life is too short to permit of wasting any portion of it in discussion with…anyone whose conception of the underlying principles of military administration is so hazy that he can advocate such proposition seriously. A proposition of this kind would be regarded as remarkable if advanced by a state militiaman.

The only difficulty I had in declaring war arose from the incompetency of the men to whom the principle management of it was to be given.

My belief is that the permanent estimate of what a general does in the field is fixed by the "cloud of witnesses" who have been with him in the field; and that, relying on these, he who has been right needs not to fear.

Only those generals who gain successes can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship.

My dear McClellan: If you don't want to use the Army I should like to borrow it for a while.

The trouble with General Hooker is that he has his headquarters where his hindquarters ought to be.

The art of making war with success being the fruit of courage combined with prudence, intelligence and experience, a companion in arms of the great Frederick, who was with him during twenty-two years, seemed to us all a man most fit to assist Monsieur Washington.