Inspiring Leadership: 50 Powerful Quotes from Military Leaders

"It is absolutely necessary…for me to have persons that can think for me, as well as execute orders."

- George Washington

"We, the officers and NCOs, owe it to the men that we command and to our country that we make ourselves fit to lead the best soldiers in the world, that in peace the training we give them is practical, alive and purposeful, and that in war our leadership is wise, resolute and unselfish."

- Field Marshal Sir Bill Slim

"Leadership must be based on goodwill. Goodwill does not mean posturing and, least of all, pandering to the mob. It means obvious and wholehearted commitment to helping followers. We are tired of leaders we fear… What we need for leaders are men of heart who are so helpful that they, in effect, do away with the need of their jobs. But leaders like that are never out of a job, never out of followers."

- Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale

"A [unit’s] quality, its discipline, its training will depend on your leadership. Whatever deficiencies there are must be charged to your failure and incapacity."

- General George C. Marshall

"The good military leader will dominate the events which surround him; once he lets events get the better of him he will lose the confidence of his men, and when that happens he ceases to be of value as a leader."

- Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

"When you become a leader you give up the right to think about yourself."

- Gerald Brooks

"Leadership is of the spirit, compounded of personality and vision: its practice is an art. Management is of the mind, more a matter of accurate calculation, of statistics, of methods, timetables and routine; its practice is a science. Managers are necessary; leaders are essential."

- Field Marshal Sir Bill Slim

"The standard you walk past is the standard you accept."

- David Hurley

"The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow."

- Seth Godin

"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves."

- Lao Tzu

"The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are, to where they have not been."

- Henry Kissinger

"You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case."

- Ken Kesey

"Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It’s about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter."

- Chris Hadfield

"Strange as it sounds, great leaders gain authority by giving it away."

- Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale

"I agree with Emerson when he said, “Trust men and they will be true to you. Treat them greatly and they will show themselves to be great.”"

- WO1 J C Lord

"Ultimately, battles, particularly those conducted under hazardous conditions and in the face of a numerically superior enemy, turn on the fighting spirit of the soldier. High morale and determination to win can only be developed by hard, tough, purposeful training and with the aid of good leadership …This is our main responsibility in peace time."

- Field Marshal Dwin Bramall

"War is much too brutal a business to have room for brutal leading; in the end, its only effect can be to corrode the character of men and when character is lost, all is lost."

- Brigadier General S. L. A. Marshall

"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others."

- Jack Welch

"I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers."

- Ralph Nader

"The most important thing I learned is that soldiers watch what their leaders do. You can give them classes and lecture them forever, but it is your personal example they will follow."

- General Colin Powell

"I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor food; I offer only hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles, and death. Let him who loves his country with his heart, and not merely with his lips, follow me."

- Giuseppe Garibaldi

"War makes extremely heavy demands on the soldier’s strength and nerves. For this reason, make heavy demands on your men in peacetime exercises."

- German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

"If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do… the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."

- General George S. Patton

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."

- President John Quincy Adams

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

- Colin Powell

"If there is not the war, you don't get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don't get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"Always do everything you ask of those you command."

- General George S. Patton

"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."

- Norman Schwarzkopf

"A successful leader of men must have character, ability and be prepared to take unlimited responsibility. Responsibility can only be learned by taking responsibility; you cannot learn the piano without playing on one. Leadership is the practical application of character."

- Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen

"The quality of leadership needs, above all, spirit, intelligence and sympathy. Spirit is needed to fire men to self-sacrificing achievements; intelligence, because men will only respect and follow a leader whom they feel knows his profession thoroughly; sympathy, to understand the mentality of each individual in order to draw out the best that is in him."

- Basil Liddell Hart

"Successful leadership in battle, although complex and intangible, always seemed to me to depend on two factors. Firstly, soldiers must have confidence in their leaders’ professional ability and, secondly, they must trust them as men."

- Sydney Jary MC

"In the British Army there are no good units and no bad units – only good and bad officers and NCOs. They make or break the unit."

- Field Marshal Sir Bill Slim

"I had a sort of a motto, “No details, no paper, and no regrets.”"

- Field Marshal Sir Bill Slim

"Every great leader I have known has been a great teacher, able to give those around him a sense of perspective and to set the moral, social and motivational climate among his followers."

- Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale

"We never lost sight of the reality that people, particularly gifted commanders, are what make units succeed. The way I like to put it, leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible."

- General Colin Powell

"A ship without Marines is like a garment without buttons."

- Admiral David D. Porter, USN

"Mountaintops inspire leaders, but valleys mature them."

- Winston Churchill

"I can't say enough about the two Marine divisions. If I use words like brilliant, it would really be an under-description of the absolutely superb job they did in breaching the so-called impenetrable barrier."

- General Norman Schwarzkopf

"Be an example to your men, in your duty and in private life. Never spare yourself and let your troops see that you don’t in your endurance of fatigue and privation. Always be tactful and well-mannered. Avoid excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide."

- German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

"The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instruction and give commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or the other in dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them respect for himself; while he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect toward others, especially his subordinates, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself."

- LTG John M. Schofield

"There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."

- General George S. Patton

"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others."

- Douglas MacArthur

"Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best."

- Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

- Winston Churchill

"An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep."

- Alexander the Great

"I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world."

- General Douglas MacArthur, USA

"It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell."

- Major General William T. Sherman

"Tell them of us and say, For their tomorrow, We gave our today."

- The Kohima Epitaph

"Goddamn it, you'll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!"

- Captain Henry P. "Jim" Crowe, USMC

"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

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

- Norman Schwarzkopf

"If you as a leader allow people to halfway do their jobs and don’t demand excellence as a prerequisite to keeping their job, you will create a culture of mediocrity. If you allow people to misbehave, underachieve, have a bad attitude, gossip, and generally avoid excellence, please don’t expect to attract and keep good talent. Please don’t expect to have an incredible culture."

- Dave Ramsey

"We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training."

- Archilochus

"In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten; then he who continues the attack wins."

- General Ulysses S. Grant

"I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but by how high he bounces when he hits bottom."

- General George S. Patton

"To err is nature, to rectify error is glory."

- George Washington

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

- General Norman Schwarzkopf

"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it."

- General Norman Schwarzkopf

"Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul."

- General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur

"Who dares, wins. Who sweats, wins. Who plans, wins."

- British Special Air Service (SAS)

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

- General George S. Patton

"The truth is that you always know the right thing to do. The tough part is doing it."

- General Norman Schwarzkopf

"Discipline is the soul of an army."

- George Washington

"Being ready is not what matters. What matters is winning after you get there."

- Lieutenant General Victor H. Krulak

"Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue."

- Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

"Retreat Hell! We've just got here!"

- Attributed to several World War I Marine Corps officers

"The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years."

- James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy

"If officers desire to have control over their commands, they must remain habitually with them, industriously attend to their instruction and comfort, and in battle lead them well."

- Stonewall Jackson

"I may not have been the best combat commander, but I always strove to be. My men depended on me to carefully analyze every tactical situation."

- Major Dick Winters

"The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say."

- Abraham Lincoln

"In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it."

- Field Marshall Erwin Rommel

"Owning the facts is a prerequisite to leadership. But there are millions of technocrats out there with lots of facts in their quivers and little leadership potential."

- William Pagonis, Lieutenant General

"When things go wrong in your command, start wading for the reason in increasing larger concentric circles around your own desk."

- General Bruce D. Clark

"Read over and over again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus, Turenne, Eugene and Frederic…This is the only way to become a great general and master the secrets of the art of war…"

- Napoleon Bonaparte

"You don't hurt 'em if you don't hit 'em."

- Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller

"The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."

- Charles George Gordon

"To spend a few minutes with people is simply not productive. If one wants to get anything across, one has to spend a fairly large minimum quantum of time. The manager who thinks that he can discuss the plans, direction, and performance of one of his subordinates in fifteen minutes – and many managers believe this – is just deceiving himself. If one wants to get to the point of having an impact, one needs probably at least an hour and usually more. And if one has to establish a human relationship, one needs infinitely more time."

- Peter F. Drucker

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

- George Orwell

"Success is peace of mind that is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

- Coach John Wooden

"The Marines have landed and have the situation well in hand."

- Attributed to many sources

"A man does not have himself killed for a half-pence a day or for a petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify him."

- Napoleon Bonaparte

"Every hour be firmly resolved…to accomplish the work at hand with fitting and unaffected dignity, goodwill, freedom, justice."

- Marcus Aurelius

"We need to learn to set our course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship."

- Omar Bradley

"We are defined by what we do repeatedly, therefore excellence is a habit, not an act."

- Aristotle

"I contend that fortitude in war has its roots in morality; that selection is a search for character and that war itself is but one more test— the supreme and final test if you will—of character."

- Lord Moran

"A man has integrity if his interest in the good of the service is at all times greater than his personal pride, and when he holds himself to the same line of duty when unobserved as he would follow if his superiors were present."

- General S.L.A. Marshall

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

- John Stuart Mills

"It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience."

- Julius Caesar

"Who you are on a daily basis is who you are when you compete. If you want to be a champion, you have to have the mindset of a champion every day."

- Jerry Ingalls

"Once a Marine, always a Marine!"

- MSgt Paul Woyshner

"Leaders must be seen to be up front, up to date, up to their job and up early in the morning."

- Marcus Sieff

"The friend of my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity."

- Ulysses S. Grant

"I must study politics and war, that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy…in order to give their children the right to study painting, poetry, and music."

- John Adams

"Plan the flight and fly the plan, but don’t fall in love with the plan. Be open to a changing world and let go of the plan when necessary so that you can make a new plan."

- Laurence Gonzales

"Who you are speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what you are saying."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If you’re never satisfied with what you have achieved, you’re never going to be satisfied with what you do achieve."

- Chris LoCurto

"We do not seek peace in order to be at war, but we go to war that we may have peace. Be peaceful, therefore, in warring, so that you may vanquish those whom you war against, and bring them to the prosperity of peace."

- St. Augustine

"There are three kinds of people: Those who are immovable, those who are moveable, and those who move them."

- Li Hung

"I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work."

- Thomas Edison

"It is well that war is so terrible, else we should grow too fond of it."

- General Robert E. Lee

"The good general is simply the good company commander in his post-graduate course. The idea that more godlike qualities are required of him and that he above others can achieve miracles through the working of his will is dismissed as idle superstition."

- S.L.A. Marshall

"A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind."

- Nelson Mandela

"When you act on your priority, you’ll automatically go out of balance, giving more time to one thing over another."

- Gary Keller

"Be selective about whom you take on as friends, colleagues, and neighbors. The world is full of agreeable and talented folk. The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best."

- Epictetus

"Those who gain experience while retaining a firm hold on a beginner’s state of mind become long term survivors."

- Laurence Gonzales

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I don’t know whether this is the best of times or the worst of times, but I assure you it’s the only time you’ve got."

- Art Buchwald

"To be pleased with one’s limits is a wretched state."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Happiness is found not in doing what one likes to do, but in liking what one has to do."

- Sir James M. Barrie

"Opportunity is missed by most because is it dressed in overalls and looks like work."

- Thomas Edison

"The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet."

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power."

"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. In the end, leaders are much like eagles… they don’t flock, you find them one at a time."

"A lack of planning on your part does not constitute a crisis on mine…unless of course I failed to lead you."

"The majority of men devote the greater part of their lives to making their remaining years unhappy."

"Some succeed because they are destined to; most succeed because they are determined to."

"What are the values of a Good Soldier? Freedom and courage. Freedom is what makes us fight, and courage is what keeps us from running away."

"Retreat Hell! We're just attacking in another direction."

"No man is a leader until he is ratified in the minds and hearts of his men."