Jack Keane Quotes

A commander in chief with military experience might be able to prod a conservative military into thinking more imaginatively.

If you are a manager with a new owner who has more ideas than knowledge, all you can do is get your head down and do your best, which is what Malky Mackay did at Cardiff.

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

Success in past U.S. conflicts has not been strictly the result of military leadership but rather the judgment of the president in choosing generals and setting broad strategy.

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

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

'm a general, I do something. I go out and fight wars and win them.

The cardinal responsibility of leadership is to identify the dominant contradiction at each point of the historical process and to work out a central line to resolve it.

One mediocre general is better than two good ones.

Only those generals who gain successes can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship.

General Montgomery is the most irritating man I ever met. I have an idea that he might irritate the Germans even more however.

Not only military leaders are sometimes guilty of designing a war as if it were a bridge that only spans half a river, civilian leaders may initiate military campaigns without being troubled by the fact that they have no plan to bring their war to a close.

When you are Commander in Chief, you should keep all your options on the table.

Moving with the times is an important idea for strategy today.

It's too bad we can't take VA leadership and export it and give it to some of our adversaries around the planet. Let them suffer under VA's leadership.

Without knowing about flexibility, one cannot work out strategies to deal with the enemy and prepare for changes, and without knowing about the foundation of one's own culture, one would be contemptuous of the Confucian ethical codes.

I think my biggest achievement was being part of a team of outstanding, entrepreneurial military leaders and civilians who helped change the way in which America fights by transforming a global special operations task force - Task Force 714 - that I commanded.

We've navigated a lot of change at Campbell's. The best thing for me to be able to do is to discuss that change with people.

You have to give the soldiers, the Army, a clear vision.

Commanders-in-chief make really tough decisions.

My advice is: 1. Be judicious in the use of military force. 2. When military force is required, use overwhelming force. 3. Do not micromanage military leaders. 4. Ensure your battle plans will win the conflict and win the peace.

Hannibal knew better how to conquer than how to profit by the conquest; and Napoleon was more skilful in taking positions than in maintaining them. As to reverses, no general cart presume to say that he may not be defeated; but he can, and ought to say, that he will not be surprised.

The admiral needs only one science, that of navigation. The general needs all the sciences.

No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.

Designing and implementing a strategy for change is a waste of time until you have discovered and embraced the current reality. If you don't know where you really are, it is impossible to get where you need to be.