Winfield Scott Quotes

The army is the only power to preserve the [Soviet] Union.

America must get off a permanent war footing.

I am persuaded that our liberties must be greatly hazarded, if not entirely lost, if their defense is left to any but a permanent standing army: I mean, one to exist during the war.

I don't live under the illusion we don't need a military to protect this country.

In recent years the military has gradually been eased out of political life in Turkey. The military budget is now subject to much more parliamentary scrutiny than before. The National Security Council, through which the military used to exercise influence over the government is now a purely consultative body. But Turkish society still sees the military as the guarantor of law and order. The army is trusted, held in high regard - though not by dissident liberals. When things go wrong, people expect the military to intervene, as they've intervened over and over again in Turkish history.

War is much too serious a thing to be left to military men.

We need a very strong military to protect the freedoms we do have.

The real peril of war lies not in military defeat. It lies in war itself, whether we win or lose.

War is just one more big government program.

There's no excuse for skimping on national defense when the country is at war.

Our national aims can be realized only by military means. The matter needs no further elaboration or interpretation.

I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders. I believe the role of the military is to fight and win war and therefore prevent war from happening in the first place

Standing armies, in the time of peace, are dangerous to liberty

We demand a strict and sweeping reduction of armaments by land and sea so that there shall be no competitive military program or naval building. Until agreements to this end have been made we advocate an army and navy adequate for our national safety.

The demilitarization of Europe—where large swaths of the general public and political class are averse to military force and the risks that go with it—has gone from the blessing of the 20th century to an impediment to achieving real security and lasting peace in the 21st.

The world relies upon, and America must rely upon, a strong military.

Voters have consistently brought up the topic of 'endless wars' and demands to 'bring the troops home' to me since I ran for office. It's not a left-right issue, either: Both sides question our military presence abroad.

Clearly the American military has been a force for good for the United States. There's a reason we have a standing military. But there's something to be said for having a much smaller military because then we wouldn't be tempted to get involved in things we shouldn't be getting involved in.

Lightly armed nations can move toward war just as easily as those which are armed to the teeth, and they will do so if the usual causes of war are not removed.

War as Napoleon knew it just not possible any more. However, we're very unlikely to accept or recognize 'world peace' even when we get it.

I think when war becomes your life, I think it's very difficult to have the proper perspective to be able to create a fully balanced policy.

We are at war, and our security as a nation depends on winning that war.

We all know that in war the political and military factors have to complement each other.

I oppose the spending of trillions in Iraq and Afghanistan, I strongly oppose Islamic extremism but don't believe that sending troops to die in two unwinnable wars makes sense.

War is too serious a matter to leave to soldiers.