24 Stirring Quotes from Military Leaders that Inspire Leadership

Let's face it, even though the halls of corporate America may feel like the hills and hollows of Gettysburg, they aren't.

But on Veterans' Day, we can honor the brave men and women who have mustered courage, summoned resolve, and marched into battle. Their wise words certainly offer inspiration to corporate warriors.

Listen to the clarion quotes of military leaders who have dignified and revealed the horrors of war.

1. When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time.
   Creighton Abrams
   
2. Swiftness and impact are the soul of genuine warfare.
   Suvorov
   
3. War is the domain of chance.
   Clausewitz
   
4. You people are telling me what you think I want to know. I want to know what is actually happening.
   Creighton Abrams
   
5. There is only one sort of discipline--perfect discipline.
   Patton
   
6. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less.
   Robert E. Lee
   
7. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
   F.D. Roosevelt
   
8. The art of war is like everything else that is beautiful and simple. The simplest moves are the best.
   Napoleon
   
9. If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.
   Patton
   
10. Know your enemy and know yourself.
    Sun Tzu
    
11. It is the part of a good general to talk of success, not of failure.
    Sophocles
    
12. An army of stags led by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions led by a stag.
    Chabrias
    
13. If you cannot control yourself, you cannot control others.
    Lee
    
14. The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.
    Grant
    
15. Veni, Vidi, Vici.
    Julius Caesar
    
16. Information is the foundation of battle.
    J.F.C. Fuller
    
17. Boldness is the noblest of virtues.
    Clausewitz
    
18. War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.
    W. T. Sherman
    
19. The commander's will must rest on iron faith: faith in God, in his cause, or in himself.
    Correlli Barnett
    
20. In war, opportunity waits for no man.
    Pericles
    
21. The first quality of a commander is a cool head.
    Napoleon
    
22. 60% of the art of command is the ability to anticipate.
    S.L.A. Marshall
    
23. Instead of my being on the defensive, I would be on the offensive; instead of guessing at what he means to do, he would have to guess at my plans.
    W. T. Sherman
    
24. I always make it a rule to get there first with the most men.
    Nathan Bedford Forrest