Ted Cruz Quotes

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

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

It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.

Wars may be fought by decent men, but they're not won by them.

Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.

I shall proceed from the simple to the complex. But in war more than in any other subject we must begin by looking at the nature of the whole; for here more than elsewhere the part and the whole must always be thought of together.

In strife who inquires whether stratagem or courage was used?

The idea that a war can be won by standing on the defensive and waiting for the enemy to attack is a dangerous fallacy, which owes its inception to the desire to evade the price of victory.

If men make war in slavish obedience to rules, they will fail.

We’re not going to win this war through polling.

I have need of Rigaud. He is violent. I want him for carrying on war; and that war is necessary to me.

He that makes a good war makes a good peace.

In war, as it is waged now, with the enormous losses on both sides, both sides will lose. It is a form of mutual suicide.

If at war, understand what it takes to win: Set a goal, define victory and fully support the effort. Leave no doubt that you respect the troops and appreciate their service.

The art of the indirect approach can only be mastered, and its full scope appreciated, by study of and reflection upon the whole history of war. But we can at least crystallize the lessons into two simple maxims- one negative, the other positive. The first is that, in face of the overwhelming evidence of history, no general is justified in launching his troops to a direct attack upon an enemy firmly in position. The second, that instead of seeking to upset the enemy's equilibrium by one's attack, it must be upset before a real attack is, or can be successfully launched

The transition from the defensive to the offensive is one of the most delicate operations in war.

I don't object to its being called "McNamara's war." I think it is a very important war and I am pleased to be identified with it and do whatever I can to win it.

In war, practice dissimulation and you will succeed.

I have to decide Japanese strategy - shall we invade Japan proper or shall we bomb and blockade? That is my hardest decision to date. But I'll make it when I have all the facts.

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

If there is a war to be fought, we don’t consider cost one of the factors in deciding whether or not to fight.

In his fairy dreams of war [Thaddeus] always made conquest the sure end of his battles.

Wars are not won by evacuations.

One makes war to win, not because it's just.