Best Military Leadership Quotes & Sayings

In this age, I don't care how tactically or operationally brilliant you are, if you cannot create harmony-even vicious harmony-on the battlefield based on trust across service lines, across coalition and national lines, and across civilian/military lines, you need to go home, because your leadership is obsolete. We have got to have officers who can create harmony across all those lines. — James Mattis

America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment. — Dwight D. Eisenhower

Good leaders know who they are - their strengths, weaknesses, passions, talents, and values. And, developing leaders always starts with self-awareness. — Lee Ellis

To guard our character with unwavering commitment, our best protection comes from being humbly aware of our vulnerability. — Lee Ellis

In response to [the Philistine] threat [in the ninth century B.C.], the Hebrews could no longer rely on the leadership of 'judges,' ad hoc military leaders (some of them, peculiarly, women; perhaps reflecting as feminists claim, and earlier matriarchal society). — Norman F. Cantor

We all cannot do everything or solve every issue. "It's impossible", however, if we each simply do our part. Make our own contribution, regardless of how small we may think it is ... together it adds up and great things get accomplished. — Mark W. Boyer

Military school was great and especially great for leadership and then I spent two years in Vietnam. — Robert Kiyosaki

In Leading with Honor, Lee uses gripping stories from the POW camps to engage the reader and teach invaluable principles of leadership. I highly recommend this book for developing leaders at all levels in any organization, military of civilian. — William R. Looney III

I liked the military life. They teach you self-sufficiency early on. I always say that I learned most of what I know about leadership in the Marine Corps. Certain basic principles stay with you - sometimes consciously, mostly unconsciously. — Raymond Kelly

I'm sure the driver was a great guy and all he wanted was to drive me to my hotel - but he was a complete stranger to me and the truth is that being vigilant isn't a part-time job, it's not about being nice to people, it's about reality. I made a terrible mistake once, believing the monsters that want to hurt us are easily labeled and identified, rather than walking and hiding amongst us. That's my reality. — Tucker Elliot

However we assess the relief of the siege of Orleans and the subsequent successes in the Loire Valley, the military proficiency of the French shocked the English to the point that French victory now seemed almost inevitable. If the English had learned that the French had new materiel or a brilliant new commander, they might have been able to devise counter procedures. But they had underestimated everything, from the loyalty evoked by Joan's leadership at Orleans to the fresh resolve of the men who knew her. In a way she also stood for something like a principle of minimal violence, for although she was always exposed to injury and indeed sustained serious wounds, she never personally harmed an enemy solider. The events of the late spring and early summer of 1929 engendered a new collective spirit among the French. — Donald Spoto

Why wouldn't female Marines come forward? Because they don't trust us. They don't trust the command. They don't trust the leadership. — James F. Amos

Enter the candidates on horseback: While military leaders can sometimes be dangerous in politics, our best generals and admirals embody the democratic values and leadership skills for which the country is yearning. — David Ignatius

I see you have returned, my love; and your mood is as dark as ever. Did your soldiers not adore you to your complete satisfaction? — Wayne Gerard Trotman

He had always had a gift for conjuring images in his mind's eye. It was one of the secrets of his military success. — H.W. Brands

As the demands of the positions differed, and as I grew in age and experience, I found that I had changed as a leader. I learned to ask myself two questions: First, what must the organization I command do and be? And second, how can I best command to achieve that? — Stanley McChrystal

In the military, I learned that 'leadership' means raising your hand and volunteering for the tough, important assignments. — Tulsi Gabbard