Robert Dallek Quotes

One mediocre general is better than two good ones.

The only difficulty I had in declaring war arose from the incompetency of the men to whom the principle management of it was to be given.

Commanders-in-chief make really tough decisions.

What we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out.

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.

So there are five ways of knowing who will win. Those who know when to fight and when not to fight are victorious. Those who discern when to use many or few troops are victorious. Those whose upper and lower ranks have the same desire are victorious.

I think no commander ever is going to come out and say, 'I'm confident that we can do this.'

I'm a professor of national security studies, and I know a lot more about fighting than Rumsfeld does.

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

If I had undertaken the practical direction of military operations, and anything went amiss, I feared that my conscience would torture me, as guilty of the fall of my country, as I had not been familiar with military tactics.

General Petraeus is not a miracle worker. He can not be successful unless the president creates greater confidence within his own team about the decisions which the president has himself made.

Even military ministers have no more than a certain amount of control. It is customary that they have the right and the power to participate, from a political and military point of view, in the planning of actual operations.

Councils of war breed timidity and defeatism.

I was lucky enough to lead a very successful war.

As leader of the effort of the Iraqi Survey Group, I spent most of my days not out in the field leading inspections. It's typically what you do at that level. I was trying to motivate, direct, find strategies.

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

I counted on sixty days only, but I held out for 133. I didn't go into power, but to get power I borrowed some power from the President and made him sign a number of decrees and give me enough power to create a system capable of handling crisis situations.

Replacing General McChrystal with David Petraeus was a good first step, but more will be needed.

I like generals. I like Napoleon. I like strategy. The majority of them are praised for mass destruction, but it's exciting to see how it comes to the mind mentally.

The most challenging part of being CEO is communicating to 200,000 people what you want done.

It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results.

I have always had a keen interest in defence and military history and read more on this subject than anything else.

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

Fortunately, President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy disagreed with the estimate and chose a course of action less ambitious and aggressive than recommended by their advisers.

You do not need 435 people playing commander-in-chief.