George C. Marshall Quotes

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

In the light of the actual fighting that is now in progress, we have reached the point where the military considerations clearly outweigh the fiscal considerations.

War, once declared, must be waged offensively, aggressively. The enemy must not be fended off; but smitten down. You may then spare him every exaction, relinquish every gain, but „til then he must be struck incessantly and remorselessly.

In war there is but one favorable moment; the great art is to seize it!

No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.

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

We shouldn't have politicians micromanaging this war because it is complex and unconventional.

Armies are not only for offensives.

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

We give the military money, it ought to be to kick rears, break things, and come home.

You can’t take military action in war without the support of government.

Our military is trained to kill our enemies in foreign lands, not to do civilian law enforcement within our country.

Ministers [government officials] in the conduct of war … assume that war having been declared, the sole duty and anxiety of Ministers should consist in supporting generals and armies in the field.

As Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy, in time of war, I suppose I have a right to take any measure which may best subdue the enemy.

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

War means fighting. The business of the soldier is to fight. ... To move swiftly, strike vigorously, and secure all the fruits of victory is the secret of successful war.

Read over and over again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus, Turenne, Eugene and Frederic. ... This is the only way to become a great general and master the secrets of the art of war.

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

This whole concept of boots on the ground, we've got a phobia about boots on the ground. If our military experts say, we need boots on the ground, we should put boots on the ground and recognize that there will be boots on the ground and they'll be over here, and they'll be their boots if we don't get out of there now.

The function and Navy in any future war will be to support the dominant air arm.

If I had one more division like this First Marine Division I could win this war.

It seems to me the worst possible concept, militarily, that we would simply stay there, resisting aggression, so-called...it seems to me that the way to "resist aggression" is to destroy the potentialities of the aggressor to continually hit you...When you say, merely, "we are going to continue to fight aggression," that is not what the enemy is fighting for. The enemy is fighting for a very definite purpose-to destroy our forces.

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

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

The conduct of war was so much more interesting than its prevention.