“Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.”

The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise.

I think whether you’re having setbacks or not, the role of a leader is to always display a winning attitude.

When you wrestle with a pig, he has fun, and you just end up dirty.

We can seldom get our children to do what we tell them, but they almost never fail to imitate us.

Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.

Treat people kindly. When you are kind to somebody and I don’t mean necessarily “buddy-buddy”, just show kindness and consideration. Show that people are worthy and you respect them and you are glad they’re with you.

Fit no stereotypes. Don’t chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team’s mission.

The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.

If everybody trusts one another, then the person who didn’t prevail will faithfully execute the decision as if it was their idea.

We are not trapped in what the science of management says we can do. We are capable of doing what the art of leadership says is possible.

Don’t bother people for help without first trying to solve the problem yourself.

Don’t be buffaloed by experts and elites. Experts often possess more data than judgment. Elites can become so inbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death as soon as they are nicked by the real world.

If you get the dirty end of the stick, sharpen it and turn it into a useful tool.

My own experience is that you get as much information as you can and then you pay attention to your intuition, to your informed instinct.

One of the greatest talents of all is the talent to recognize and to develop talent in others.

Don’t let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision.