Stonewall Jackson Quotes

The great art of making war is to live at the expense of the enemy.

It seems to me the worst possible concept, militarily, that we would simply stay there, resisting aggression, so-called...it seems to me that the way to "resist aggression" is to destroy the potentialities of the aggressor to continually hit you...When you say, merely, "we are going to continue to fight aggression," that is not what the enemy is fighting for. The enemy is fighting for a very definite purpose-to destroy our forces.

And that is how we intend to destroy the enemy!" The superior shakes his head wearily. "Young man, the Soviets are our adversary. The Navy is the enemy.

The first law of war is to preserve ourselves and destroy the enemy.

Attack the enemy's strategy.

According to U.S. strategy, if you never see the other, his destruction will be more acceptableso that when Iraqi soldiers surrendered, sooner than expected, it was as if they emerged from a dream, a flash-back, a lost epoch--an epoch when the enemy still had a body and was still "like us.

Though fraud in all other actions be odious, yet in matters of war it is laudable and glorious, and he who overcomes his enemies by stratagem is as much to be praised as he who overcomes them by force.

It is an approved maxim in war, never to do what the enemy wishes you to do, for this reason alone, that he desires it.

The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions

From a position of this sort, if the enemy is unprepared, you may sally forth and defeat him. But if the enemy is prepared for your coming, and you fail to defeat him, then, return being impossible, disaster will ensue.

If the enemy has occupied them before you, do not follow him, but retreat and try to entice him away.

The aggressive spirit, the offensive, is the chief thing everywhere in war, and the air is no exception.

As almost anyone with war experience knows, you're never supposed to show the enemy what you won't do to win.

In war one must lean on an obstacle in order to overcome it.

When the enemy advances, withdraw; when he stops, harass; when he tires, strike; when he retreats, pursue.

It is the rule in war, if ten times the enemy's strength, surround them; if five times, attack them; if double, be able to divide them; if equal, engage them; if fewer, defend against them; if weaker, be able to avoid them.

Above all, I shall see to it that the enemy will not be able to drop any bombs.

If you take a shot at someone, you keep firing until they can no longer return fire. Wound them, and you have an angry enemy who knows your position.

With growing experience, all skillful commanders sought to profit by the power of the defensive, even when on the offensive.

I think it's very hard to fight the war on terrorism if we're in retreat.

Charges of cavalry are equally useful at the beginning, the middle and the end of a battle. They should be made always, if possible, on the flanks of the infantry, especially when the latter is engaged in front.

Life is like invading Russia. A blitz start, massed shakos, plumes dancing like a flustered henhouse; a period of svelte progress recorded in ebullient despatches as the enemy falls back; then the beginning of a long, morale-sapping trudge with rations getting shorter and the first snowflakes upon your face. The enemy burns Moscow and you yield to General January, whose fingernails are very icicles. Bitter retreat. Harrying Cossacks. Eventually you fall beneath a boy-gunner's grapeshot while crossing some Polish river not even marked on your general's map.

When the enemy starts to collapse you must pursue him without the chance of letting go. If you fail to take advantage of your enemies collapse, they may recover.

Men are always more inclined to pitch their estimate of the enemy's strength too high than too low, such is human nature.

How does it make sense to remove an option, to tell your enemy before you go into a conflict, that you will not exercise whatever options are necessary in order to achieve victory?