Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

He is neither a strategist nor is he schooled in the operational arts, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general. Other than that he's a great military man.

When placed in command - take charge.

It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

Do what is right, not what you think the high headquarters wants or what you think will make you look good.

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

You learn far more from negative leadership than from positive leadership. Because you learn how not to do it. And, therefore, you learn how to do it.

War is a profane thing.

A great deal of the capability of an army is its dedication to its cause and its will to fight. You can have the best equipment in the world, you can have the largest numbers in the world, but, if you're not dedicated to your cause, if you don't have the will to fight, then, you are not going to have a very good army.

A professional soldier understands that war means killing people, war means maiming people, war means families left without fathers and mothers.

An awful lot has been written about my temper.

Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for.

As far as Saddam Hussein being a great military strategist, he is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational arts, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier. Other than that, he's a great military man, I want you to know that.

As young West Point cadets, our motto was 'duty, honor, country.' But it was in the field, from the rice paddies of Southeast Asia to the sands of the Middle East, that I learned that motto's fullest meaning. There I saw gallant young Americans of every race, creed and background fight, and sometimes die, for 'duty, honor, and their country.'

But I would defy anyone to go back over the years and tell me anyone whose career I've ruined, anyone whom I've driven out of the service, anyone I've fired from a job.

First of all, Saddam did not win the war, even though he says he did, I mean, you know, that's a joke and everybody in the world knows it.

Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion.

Good generalship is a realization that... you've got to try and figure out how to accomplish your mission with a minimum loss of human life.

Good generalship is the realisation that you've got to figure out how to accomplish your mission with the minimum loss of human life.

Had the United States and the United Kingdom gone on alone to capture Baghdad, under the provisions of the Geneva and Hague conventions we would have been considered occupying powers and therefore would have been responsible for all the costs of maintaining or restoring government, education and other services for the people of Iraq.

Had we taken all of Iraq, we would have been like a dinosaur in the tar pit - we would still be there, and we, not the United Nations, would be bearing the costs of that occupation.

Hey, I'm not a politician. I'm a ham. I love to give speeches.

I am an environmentalist, but I'm not a wacko environmentalist. I believe that mankind and nature can live side-by-side for the mutual benefit of both.

I do hunt, and I do fish, and I don't apologize to anybody for hunting and fishing.

I do not want to be a pawn in a political campaign.

I get angry at a principle, not a person.

I hate war. Absolutely, I hate war.

I like to say I'm not a hero.

I may have made my reputation as a general in the Army and I'm very proud of that. But I've always felt that I was more than one-dimensional.

I prided myself on being unflappable even in the most chaotic of circumstances.

I saw Kuwait many times before the war. I remember it as a beautiful place, full of very nice people, and it's a tragedy to see that somebody could set out to deliberately destroy a country the way the Iraqis have.

I was lucky enough to lead a very successful war.

I'd like to think I'm a caring human being.

I'm not a politician. I'd make a lousy politician.

I've managed to convince my wife that somewhere in the Bible it says, 'Man cannot have too many shotguns and fishing poles.'

If Saddam were to be replaced tomorrow he would probably be replaced with someone who's just as bad or worse than he is.

If it had been our intention to take Iraq, if it had been our intention to destroy the country, if it had been our intention to overrun the country, we could have done it unopposed.

It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

It's nice to feel that you have a purpose.

Nobody can ever pin you down when you speculate.

Particularly when you're dealing with very high ranking people, you know, you have to get their attention, they are used to, by their rank, of having their own way and doing their own thing and when it's necessary to all work together on something, sometimes you have to hit the mule between the eyes with a two by four to get its attention.

Tanks being deployed far forward is an indication of offensive action; tanks in depth is an indication of defensive action.

The fun of fishing is catching 'em, not killing 'em.

The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.

This gulf war syndrome thing is truly unfortunate, and I've met some of the vets who have this. These are my guys, and I feel terrible about it.

To be an effective leader, you have to have a manipulative streak - you have to figure out the people working for you and give each tasks that will take advantage of his strength.

True courage is being afraid, and going ahead and doing your job anyhow, that's what courage is.

Unfortunately, if you've ever been in southern Georgia on the beaches in a lightning storm, if you're out there, you're in great, great danger, and you can be killed very, very quickly.

Well, unfortunately, I have always regretted the fact that I have a temper, but I also have, you know, have great love and respect for all of the people that have worked for me. I think like everything else, this is one of those things that has been blown out of proportion.