John Joseph Pershing Quotes

If we read history with an open mind, we cannot fail to conclude that, among all the military virtues, the energetic conduct of war has always contributed most to glory and success.

Everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. The difficulties accumulate and end by producing a kind of friction that is inconceivable unless one has experienced war. ... Countless minor incidents - the kind you can never really foresee - combine to lower the general level of performance, so that one always falls short of the intended goal.

The military weapon is but one of the means that serve the purposes of war: one out of the assortment which grand strategy can employ.

War is not violence and killing, pure and simple; war is controlled violence, for a purpose. The purpose of war is to support your government's decisions by force. The purpose is never to kill the enemy just to be killing him but to make him do what you want him to do. Not killing... but controlled and purposeful violence.

He that makes war without many mistakes has not made war very long.

So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.

Maneuvering with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous.

The consensus seemed to be that if really large numbers of men were sent to storm the mountain, then enough might survive the rocks to take the citadel. This is essentially the basis of all military thinking.

In all their wars against the French they [the Americans] never showed such conduct, attention and perseverance as they do now.

In war the chief incalculable is the human will, which manifests itself in resistance, which in turn lies in the province of tactics. Strategy has not to overcome resistance, except from nature. Its purpose is to diminish the possibility of resistance, and it seeks to fulfil this purpose by exploiting the elements of movement and surprise.

War is the supreme test of man in which he rises to heights never approached in any other activity.

In the military we also learn principles of war which also work in a corporate setting: How do you concentrate as much of your force as possible on a critical point and take a risk elsewhere? In business that translates into focusing your investment on marketing, sales, or R&D, whichever will give you the greatest return.

When the enemy is driven back, we have failed, and when he is cut off, encircled and dispersed, we have succeeded.

I've always had the fantasy of doing a boot camp for a military film, at some point. I've always wanted to know what the experience is like, to feel that mounting pressure of going off to war and needing to be so present and physically aware of your body because you ultimately need to fight for your life and for your country.

War is an art and as such is not susceptible of explanation by fixed formula

In war the will is directed at an animate object that reacts.

In war, groping tactics, half-way measures, lose everything.

In war the only sure defense is offense, and the efficiency of the offense depends on the warlike souls of those conducting it.

When the enemy advances, withdraw; when he stops, harass; when he tires, strike; when he retreats, pursue.

Dulce bellum inexpertis. - War is lovely for those who know nothing about it.

Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.

In war there are none but particular cases; everything has there an individual nature; nothing ever repeats itself. In the first place, the data of a military problem are but seldom certain; they are never final . Everything is in a constant state of change and reshaping.

The art of war in its highest point of view is policy.

Warfare is the father of all good things, it is also the father of good prose!

For Americans war is almost all of the time a nuisance, and military skill is a luxury like Mah-Jongg. But when the issue is brought home to them, war becomes as important, for the necessary period, as business or sport. And it is hard to decide which is likely to be the more ominous for the Axis -- an American decision that this is sport, or that it is business.