Clement Attlee Quotes

That was my first lesson from Ben-Gurion. Then I saw him making peace, and I saw him making war. He mobilized me before the war. The man was a very rare combination between a real intellectual and a born leader. There is a contradiction between the two.

The important thing is the boldness of the President. He will lead opinion and not follow it. He does not want war but will not shrink from it.

We don’t need corporate generals. We need warrior generals…. Many of our military leaders are like car designers who have never driven a car….they go along to get along.

Prudence is not hesitation, procrastination, or moderation. It is not driving in the middle of the road. It is not the way of ambivalence, indecision, or safety.

In politics, guts is all.

A statesman wants courage and a statesman wants vision; but believe me, after six months' experience, he wants first, second, third and all the time - patience.

Great leaders are not proverbial fence sitters. They judge. They opine. They challenge. They fight for their vision.

In my experience as CEO, I found that the most important decisions tested my courage far more than my intelligence.

Councils of war breed timidity and defeatism.

It is the characteristic excellence of the strong man that he can bring momentous issues to the fore and make a decision about them. The weak are always forced to decide between alternatives they have not chosen themselves.

General Custer was a close observer and student of personal character.

I don't believe war is a way to solve problems. I think it's wrong. I don't have respect for the people that made the decisions to go on with war. I don't have that much respect for Bush. He's about war, I'm not about war - a lot of people aren't about war.

The politician who never made a mistake never made a decision.

Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.

Presidents with strong nerves are decisive. They don't balk at unpopular decisions. They are willing to make people angry. Bush had strong nerves. Clinton, who passed up a chance to eliminate Osama bin Laden, did not. Obama is a people pleaser, a trait not normally associated with nerves of steel.

Compromise makes a good umbrella, but a poor roof; it is temporary expedient, often wise in party politics, almost sure to be unwise in statesmanship.

War is often about making the least-worst decision. The same could be said about politics. But the stakes are higher in war, when the commander-in-chief is called upon to defend the nation.

Let me define a leader. He must have vision and passion and not be afraid of any problem. Instead, he should know how to defeat it. Most importantly, he must work with integrity.

The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to have its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards.

In peace, as a wise man, he should make suitable preparation for war.

Leadership of lapses is the thing that wins battles. I have it – I’ll be damned if I can define it.

I hate to change leaders in battle, but the new leader is better than a timid one.

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

Germany is organized not only for war but for peace. We are organized for nothing except party politics.

Military men predominated and gave no thought to the larger situation. They knew how to advance but not how to retreat.