“A very great man once said you should love your enemies and that’s not a bad piece of advice. We can love them but, by God, that doesn’t mean we’re not going to fight them.”

I was lucky enough to lead a very successful war.

It’s the sense of duty that keeps you going sometimes when things get very, very rough. Somebody’s got to do it. And if you don’t, who will?

How do you fight someone who doesn’t care if they get killed? You accommodate them.

You can’t help someone get up a hill without getting closer to the top yourself.

Ninety-nine percent of leadership failures are failures of character.

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.

From the time I was twelve years old until I retired last year at the age of fifty-seven, the Army was my life. I loved commanding soldiers and being around people who had made a serious commitment to serve their country.

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.

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

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.

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

I get angry at a principle, not a person.

An awful lot has been written about my temper.

I admire men of character and I judge character not by how men deal with their superiors, but mostly how they deal with their subordinates. And that, to me, is where you find out what the character of a man is.

Judge your enemy based upon capabilities, not intent, you have to look at the enemy and really almost make a worst case call every time.

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

The work of those who do tomorrow may come, but tomorrow never comes.

When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.

The secret of peace is to listen to more music & less advice.

To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.

All of my friends who have younger siblings who are going to college or high school – my number one piece of advice is: You should learn how to program.

Do not tell jokes that ain’t funny. 

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is silence.

Never help an ungrateful person get on their feet.