Tom Peters Quotes

There is nothing more common than to find considerations of supply affecting the strategic lines of a campaign and a war.

Logistics comprises the means and arrangements which work out the plans of strategy and tactics. Strategy decides where to act; logistics brings the troops to this point.

It has been said by a certain general, that the first object in the establishment of an army ought to be making provision for the belly, that being the basis and foundation of all operations.

You will not find it difficult to prove that battles, campaigns, and even wars have been won or lost primarily because of logistics.

Logistics is the ball and chain of armored warfare.

If was, increased by a lack of railways in Russia - for bringing up supplies to our advancing troops.

A wise human would have an understanding of the supply chain and how the pieces fit together. But it's against our nature to think about it.

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

It is not enough just to get your forces from A to B - you have to keep them fed and watered as they go. The art of movement, therefore, is one of the most complex and vital that any commander must master if he is going to win.

The battle is fought and decided by the quartermasters, long before the shooting begins.

To make war all you need is intelligence. But to win you need talent and material.

As I said back in 1984, the idea of logistics is not only about oil, about ammunitions and supplies but also about images.

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.

The Republic can count on me to battle its enemies... Offensive war suits the passionate character of the French, but it is the responsibility of the man in charge of leading them to prepare with caution and wisdom everything that leads to victory.

Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy... use the conquered foe to augment one's own strength.

Nobody ever launched an attack without having misgivings beforehand, You ought to have misgivings before; but when the moment of action is come, the hour of misgivings is passed. It is often not possible to go backward from a course which has been adopted in war. A man must answer "Aye" or "No" to the great questions which are put, and by that decision he must be bound.

Give me fifty DC-3's and the Japanese can have the Burma Road.

No leader, however great, can long continue unless he wins battles. The battle decides all.

We need to be strong in order to avoid war; and to win. A politician looks forward only to the next election. A statesman looks forward to the next generation. Any person who is over 30 and is not a conservative, has no brains.

The Maid and her soldiers will have the victory. Therefore the Maid is willing that you, Duke of Bedford, should not destroy yourself.

Guns don't win wars; guns and bombs may kill a man but they cannot make him follow their lead, nor will they ever coerce an unyielding man to yield.

The true lesson of the Vietnam War is: certainty of purpose and ruthlessness of execution win wars.

Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat. Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars.

If those who are sent to draw water begin by drinking themselves, the army is suffering from thirst.

What I also discovered was that, during the War, the whole of Europe had become a fortress. And thus I saw to what extent an immense territory, a whole continent, had effectively been reorganized into one city, and just like the cities of old. From that moment on, I became more interested in urban matters, in logistics, in the organisation of transport, in maintenance and supplies.