Jim Mattis Quotes

Don't ever, ever go to war unless you can describe and create a more desirable end state. And doing so takes a whole lot more than just the use of force.

Preventing a war is tantamount to winning a war.

War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men.

Never start a war with something you can't talk to.

To carry the spirit of peace into war is a weak and cruel policy. When an extreme case calls for that remedy which is in its own nature most violent, and which, in such cases, is a remedy only because it is violent, it is idle to think of mitigating and diluting. Languid war can do nothing which negotiation or submission will do better: and to act on any other principle is, not to save blood and money, but to squander them.

Anyone can battle for pride, power, vanity, greed, or hate, but war should always be approached with an equal measure of wisdom and strength. It's not just enough to know when to fight, but to know when to lay down the sword and negotiate. Not everything in the world is worth fighting for.

War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support.

War is never a lasting solution for any problem.

In the midst of fighting there is no place for public debate.

Wars can be prevented just as surely as they can be provoked, and we who fail to prevent them, must share the guilt for the dead.

The power to wage war is the power to wage war successfully.

The best way to solve problems and to fight against war is through dialogue.

We should seek by all means in our power to avoid war, by analysing possible causes, by trying to remove them, by discussion in a spirit of collaboration and good will.

You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.

For ultimately, the only way to win wars, is to prevent them occurring in the first place.

War is never a solution; it is an aggravation.

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

Military force is not the first option, but it is there if needed.

I don’t want to give any indication we’re getting involved in a war. I’m playing it down.

War is no picnic. Wars should be prevented, and if you can't prevent them, you have to put them off.

I think that the decision to go to war in Iraq was a mistake.

He that makes a good war makes a good peace.

Wars happen because the ones who start them think they can win.

My goal is not to resolve conflicts and tensions in the region through more war. My goal is to make sure that, you know, we are able to negotiate a deal that we can verify.

he'd know that I think that . . . well, that bending an enemy's will through military force is the absolute last way a nation ought to go about solving their problems.