John Marshall Quotes

A bloody and complete victory has sometimes yielded no more than the possession of the field and the loss of ten thousand men has sometimes been sufficient to destroy, in a single day, the work of ages.

Superior numbers versus superior firepower. A recipe for unending slaughter.

Blunders are an inescapable feature of war, because choice in military affairs lies generally between the bad and the worse.

Members of the Senate and House, if they want to send troops into war, should be forced to send a family member. That would really make everyone stop and go, 'Ohhh-kaaay.'

In general, our generals were out-generalled.

Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please.

Wars begin where you will but they end where they will.

We realize that wars are never won on the defensive. We must take the battle to the enemy

Generals make plans. Plans go wrong. And soldiers die.

During my years in the Navy and in the White House, I was involved in assessing how a war with Iran would go. In summary: It would be ugly.

Battles are never the end of war; for the dead must be buried and the cost of the conflict must be paid.

In a battle, as in a siege, the art consists in concentrating very heavy fire on a particular point. The line of battle once established, the one who has the ability to concentrate an unlooked for mass of artillery suddenly and unexpectedly on one of these points is sure to carry the day.

The secret of success in battle lies often not so much in the use of one's own strength but in the exploitation of the other side's weaknesses.

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

Any time Uncle Sam, with all his machinery for warfare, is held to a draw by some rice eaters, he's lost the battle.

I've seen the consequences of what can happen when you're unprepared for a fight, or not as prepared as your opponent.

...for the shield may be as important for victory, as the sword or spear.

No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique. If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are. Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

This high proportion of history's decisive campaigns, the significance of which is enhanced by the comparative rarity of the direct approach, enforces the conclusion that the indirect is by far the most hopeful and economic form of strategy.

Numerical superiority is of no consequence. In battle, victory will go to the best tactician."- G. A. Custer

When you have resolved to fight a battle, collect your whole force. Dispense with nothing. A single battalion sometimes decides the day.

[The] aim is not so much to seek battle as to seek a strategic situation so advantageous that if it does not of itself produce the decision, its continuation by a battle is sure to achieve this. In other words, dislocation is the aim of strategy.

The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known; for then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points; and his forces being thus distributed in many directions, the numbers we shall have to face at any given point will be proportionately few.

A battle can be won before it's ever fought by choosing the right ground.