John McCain Quotes

You must all be aware that modern war is not a mere matter of military operations. It involves the whole strength and all the resources of the nation. Not only soldiers, but also all citizens without exception, take part.

The certain way to victory...lies in making everything on Imperial soil contribute to the war effort...combining the total material and spiritual strength of the nation...

Large elements in Congress and the public were willing to fight for victory but wanted to be very sure that the struggle was not contaminated by any moral principles.

Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it is not enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. We would have to march into Washington and sign the treaty in the White House.

Secretary Rumsfeld used to represent parts of our district in the 1960s. I think that he and his team have done a masterful job in defeating Iraqi forces quickly and decisively.

We don't have the temperament to be an occupying power.

I’d rather build highways here then try nation building in Iraq

I will not be the first American President who lost a war!

In a global and totalitarian war, intelligence must be global and totalitarian.

What really matters for great powers is power—national economic and military strength—and that speaks loudly and clearly for itself.

Being a wartime President is never just about leading the war. It is also about leading a nation at war.

Military campaigns are inseparable from politics.

A great country cannot half-make war. From the moment it [Great Britain] decided to do so at sea, it was inescapably fated to do so also on land.

Israel must win every single war that it fights. Our enemies only have to win one war.

We have the tools to be a stronger nation than we were before Sept. 11, 2001. We have learned valuable lessons about the danger of growing enemies and the importance of developing alliances.

In my day, we had mastered high-intensity conflict, which is why I think we were so successful in Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and then eventually the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

I'm not surprised that people are unsettled because of war. The enemy has got a powerful tool, and that is to get on your TV screen by killing innocent people. And my job is to continue to remind the people it's worth it, we're not going to retreat hastily, and we're not going to pull out of there before the job is done. And we have got a plan for victory.

Occasional war is one of the rigorous instruments in the hands of Providence to give tone to the character of nations.

Before America entered the war [WW2] I knew we could not win it, but after she entered I knew we could not lose

I now sit at the table in a variety of ways with the House leadership... as we go through taking a look at threat assessments and hot spots around the world. It's a national position, but certainly I don't forget that New Jersey has a critical part of national defense.

The failings in Afghanistan don't fall on the shoulders of the American service personnel trying to complete their mission. The failure falls on military leadership unable to adapt to irregular warfare, and a Congress that blindly continues to fund failure.

When I first read Barbara Tuchman's 'The Guns of August' in the autumn of 1963, it was as though history went from black and white to Technicolor.

As a national security aid, I worked with our military to strengthen our national defense.

National security is not just things that go boom. It is not just terrorists and foreign adversaries.

There's so many things, when you're in national security, that you do that aren't perfect, but you do them because you think you're doing what the country needs to be safe.