Quotes about Attrition

Ho Chi Minh

You will kill 10 of our men, and we will kill 1 of yours, and in the end it will be you who tire of it.

Paul R. Ehrlich

After The Bomb we developed a fairly good system for moving food around and have avoided the kind of massive famines that attract the media. Although of course we've had a fair number of them, particularly in Africa, since The Bomb was written. But we have had a steady level of attrition of malnutrition and malnutrition-related disease. Probably something on the order of 5 to 10 million people starve to death each year, but they're spread out; they're not dramatic news events.

William Tecumseh Sherman

We should fight on all occasions even if we get worsted—we can stand it longest.

The South could not replenish their lost arms and munitions nor could they replace most of the men wounded, killed or taken prisoner. The Union could do both. Therefore as long as the Union army inflicted casualties, it mattered little who won which battle as long as the fighting was in the South. This critical strategic reality was never appreciated by the Union Generals who were generally reluctant to take large casualties. When Grant and Sherman finally were able to set the strategy of attrition in operation, the Union actually won most of the battles though he and Grant took very high casualties. The casualties of the Confederates were generally higher but they did not have to be for the Union to win. The Civil War was a strategic form of suicide. Ironically, at a few points the rebellion might have succeeded because of the incompetent and timid Union military leadership at the beginning of the war.

Avigdor Lieberman

Israel cannot afford a war of attrition.

Kris Kobach

Attrition through enforcement is simply the self-evident principle that if you ratchet up the level of enforcement and make it more difficult to break the law, fewer people will continue to break the law.

Walter Scott

The chain of friendship, however bright, does not stand the attrition of constant close contact.

Yasser Arafat

The war of attrition against the Zionist enemy will never cease.

William Westmoreland

We were succeeding. When you looked at specifics, this became a war of attrition. We were winning.

Terry Pratchett

The consensus seemed to be that if really large numbers of men were sent to storm the mountain, then enough might survive the rocks to take the citadel. This is essentially the basis of all military thinking.

Michael Arad

When I was in the Army, the unit I served in, you could never stop. It was a volunteer unit, and there was a fairly high rate of attrition. The people who stayed through are the people who were either great at it or the people who just didn't know how to stop. And I fell into that second category.

Allen West

Well, I think we need to have attrition by enforcement. We need to secure our borders. We need to enforce our laws.

Ho Chi Minh

You will kill ten of us, we will kill one of you, but in the end, you will tire of it first.

Sascha Radetsky

My injuries are more due to attrition than accidents. I have a couple of herniated discs in my neck, and that more than anything else - I had a flare-up last December, and I had actually made the decision to retire before that, but that just cemented the choice. I was flat on my back.

Scott Walker

But I don't want massive layoffs of anyone - public or private. We are planning on shrinking government through attrition and reform, not through random pink slips.

Sylvester Stallone

The men in Vietnam weren't allowed to fight the war with any kind of concern to win by the government. It was like a war of attrition.

Dax Shepard

Success is just a war of attrition. Sure, there's an element of talent you should probably possess, but if you stick around long enough, eventually something is going to happen.

James Carville

Some comments are within bounds, while some are not. But by whining about every little barb, candidates are trying to win the election through a war of staff resignation attrition, and Americans are losing the ability to distinguish between what is fair game and what is not.

Stuart Broad

Shaun Pollock is actually the best role model for me as a very good attritional bowler.

Charles Bukowski

All our days are marked with/ unexpected/ affronts--some/ disastrous, others/ less so/ but the process is/ wearing and/ continuous./ Attrition rules./ Most give/ way/ leaving/ empty spaces/ where people should/ be.

Eva Moskowitz

What you get is what you see, which is suspending kids doesn't lead to high attrition rate. That is what the data shows.

Julie Bowen

It's a war of attrition. If you have patience and a modicum of faith in yourself your chances are not too bad.

Jane Jacobs

Erosion of cities or attrition of automobiles?

Christopher Hitchens

The press is still investing itself, it seems to me, in a sort of cynicism. It comes out better for them if they can predict hard times, bogging down, sniping, attrition.

Ulysses S. Grant

We have now ended the 6th day of very hard fighting. The result at this time is very much in our favor. But our losses have been heavy as well as those of the enemy. I think the loss of the enemy must be greater; we have taken over 4,000 prisoners in battle, whilst he has taken from us but few except stragglers. I am now sending back to Belle Plaine all my wagons for a fresh supply of provisions and ammunition, and propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.

After the Battle of the Wilderness, just before the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, Grant wrote:

Attrition Quotes