"All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened. The courageous man is the man who forces himself, in spite of his fear, to carry on." -General George S. Patton, Jr. War As I Knew It
"I know you?re scared?I?m scared?I?ve never been in a situation like this, either. But we?ve got to go. It?s our job. The difference between being a coward and a man isn?t whether you?re scared; it?s what you do while you?re scared." Sergeant during 1993 Mogadishu Operation (Black Hawk Down)
"A man does not have himself killed for a few halfpence a day or for a petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify the man." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"Never get so caught up in cutting wood that you forget to sharpen your ax." - Unknown
"If it?s dumb it?s not our policy." - Lieutenant General Walter F. Ulmer, Jr.
Former Commanding General, III Corps
"The key is not to make quick decisions, but to make timely decisions." - General Colin Powell
Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
"[A] good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week." - General George S. Patton, Jr.
War As I Knew It
"None of us is as smart as all of us." - A Former Brigade Commander
"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity." - General George S. Patton, Jr.
War As I Knew It
"The crucial difference (apart from levels of innate ability) between Washington and the commanders who opposed him was they were sure they knew all the answers, while Washington tried every day and every hour to learn." - James Thomas Flexner
George Washington in the American Revolution
"When I am faced with a decision?picking somebody for a post, or choosing a course of action?I dredge up every scrap of knowledge I can. I call in people. I telephone them. I read whatever I can get my hands on. I use my intellect to inform my instinct. I then use my instinct to test all this data. "Hey, instinct, does this sound right? Does it smell right, feel right, fit right?"" - General Colin Powell
Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
"The higher up the chain of command, the greater is the need for boldness to be supported by a reflective mind, so that boldness does not degenerate into purposeless bursts of blind passion." - Carl von Clausewitz
"A good soldier, whether he leads a platoon or an army, is expected to look backward as well as forward; but he must think only forward." - General of the Army Douglas MacArthur
"Just as the diamond requires three properties for its formation?carbon, heat, and pressure?successful leaders require the interaction of three properties?character, knowledge, and application. Like carbon to the diamond, character is the basic quality of the leader. But as carbon alone does not create a diamond, neither can character alone create a leader. The diamond needs heat. Man needs knowledge, study, and preparation. The third property, pressure?acting in conjunction with carbon and heat?forms the diamond. Similarly, one?s character, attended by knowledge, blooms through application to produce a leader." - General Edward C. Meyer
Former Army Chief of Staff
These quotes were taken out of the Army Leadership Be Know Do website: http://www.adtdl.army.mil/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/fm/22-100/ch1.htm.
An interesting site for those in leadership, management positions, or those who own a business: http://www.semperficonsulting.com/html/newsletters.html. It's pretty interesting and applies the leadership qualities of the Marine Corps - who have the highest retention and reenlistment rates even though they offer the poorest benefits and the worst living conditions - to the corporate/business world. It's pretty interesting.