Retired General Quotes

“I would sit and talk to any president who wishes to talk to me, but I'm not anxious to rule it in.”

“Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.”

“In the military we also learn principles of war which also work in a corporate setting: How do you concentrate as much of your force as possible on a critical point and take a risk elsewhere? In business that translates into focusing your investment on marketing, sales, or R&D, whichever will give you the greatest return.”

“A sense of shame is not a bad moral compass.”

“I don't want to spend the rest of my life giving speeches.”

“The best way to create a winning team is to train them, give them everything they need to get the job done and second, make sure they know what the job is and what the job will be. So you connect strategy to resources.”

“1. It ain't as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.2. Get mad, then get over it.3. Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.4. It can be done!5. Be careful what you choose. You may get it.6. Don't let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision.7. You can't make someone else's choices. You shouldn't let someone else make yours.8. Check small things.9. Share credit.10. Remain calm. Be kind.”

“Children need to get a high-quality education, avoid violence and the criminal-justice system, and gain jobs. But they deserve more. We want them to learn not only reading and math but fairness, caring, self-respect, family commitment, and civic duty.”

“Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.”

“Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is "no." That's not America.”

“The chief condition on which, life, health and vigor depend on, is action. It is by action that an organism develops its faculties, increases its energy, and attains the fulfillment of its destiny.”

“I'm going to be bringing people into the public diplomacy function of the department who are going to change from just selling us in the old USIA way to really branding foreign policy, branding the department, marketing the department, marketing American values to the world and not just putting out pamphlets.”

“The best method of overcoming obstacles is the team method”

“I'm sleeping like a baby, too. Every two hours, I wake up, screaming.”

“No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”

“One thing the military does far better than business is train its own leaders. I can't go to IBM and hire a battalion commander. They don't have any.”

“For all the hardship, I was still excited to be on the trail, testing my endurance, feeling especially alive as strength and fatigue flowed alternately through my limbs.”

“Always focus on the front windshield and not the review mirror.”

“If it ain't broke, don't fix it' is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant or the scared. It's an excuse for inaction, a call to non-arms.”

“You should never be so involved with your position/job that when the position is gone your entire self image is gone with it.”

“Look for intelligence and judgment and, most critically, a capacity to anticipate, to see around corners. Also look for loyalty, integrity, a high energy drive, a balanced ego and the drive to get things done.”

“When you help the poorest in the world, you start to move them up an economic and social ladder, and they're not going to be moving toward violence or terrorism of the kind that we worry about.”

“Almost invariably, whoever doesn't win the argument is going to be unhappy.”

“Good leaders must know how to reward those who succeed and know when to retrain, move, or fire ineffective staff.”

“Respect for leaders by followers can't be mandated; it must be earned. It has to be given to leaders by their followers.”