35 Norman Schwarzkopf Quotes (U.S. GENERAL)

Top 10 Most Famous Norman Schwarzkopf Quotes (BEST)

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. — **Leadership** is a potent combination of strategy and **character**. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle. — It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. — The more you sweat in **peace**, the less you bleed in war.

Success is sweet, but the secret is sweat. — **Success** is sweet, but the secret is sweat.

You learn far more from negative leadership than from positive leadership. Because you learn how not to do it. And, therefore, you learn how to do it. — You learn far more from negative **leadership** than from positive leadership. Because you learn how not to do it. And, therefore, you learn how to do it.

The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it. — The **truth** of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.

True courage is being afraid, and going ahead and doing your job anyhow, that's what courage is. — True **courage** is being afraid, and going ahead and doing your job anyhow, that’s what courage is.

You should never forget that the airplanes don’t fly, the tanks don’t run, the ships don’t sail, the missiles don’t fire unless the sons and daughters of America make them do it.

I believe that forgiving them is God's function. Our job is simply to arrange the meeting. — I believe that forgiving them is God’s function. Our job is simply to arrange the meeting.

“I admire men of character and I judge character not by how men deal with their superiors, but mostly how they deal with their subordinates. And that, to me, is where you find out what the character of a man is.”
Norman Schwarzkopf

9 Norman Schwarzkopf Quotes on War and Army

“A great deal of the capability of an army is its dedication to its cause and its will to fight. You can have the best equipment in the world, you can have the largest numbers in the world, but, if you’re not dedicated to your cause, if you don’t have the will to fight, then, you are not going to have a very good army.”
Norman Schwarzkopf

Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion.

Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for.

All you have to do is hold your first soldier who is dying in your arms, and have that terribly futile feeling that I can't do anything about it… Then you understand the horror of war. — All you have to do is hold your first soldier who is dying in your arms, and have that terribly futile feeling that I can’t do anything about it… Then you understand the horror of war.

A professional soldier understands that war means killing people, war means maiming people, war means families left without fathers and mothers.

I'm not proud of killing, of being responsible for the death of a single person. I never will be. — I’m not proud of killing, of being responsible for the death of a single person. I never will be.

Fear will keep you alive in a war. Fear will keep you alive in business. There's nothing wrong with fear. — **Fear** will keep you alive in a war. Fear will keep you alive in business. There’s nothing wrong with fear.

“As young West Point cadets, our motto was ‘duty, honor, country.’ But it was in the field, from the rice paddies of Southeast Asia to the sands of the Middle East, that I learned that motto’s fullest meaning. There I saw gallant young Americans of every race, creed and background fight, and sometimes die, for ‘duty, honor, and their country.'”
Norman Schwarzkopf

10 Norman Schwarzkopf Quotes on Good Leadership Skills

“Generals aren’t in the business of commenting on the correctness or incorrectness of the President’s decisions. Anybody who thinks he should be able to do that ought to be fired on the spot.”
Norman Schwarzkopf

Do what is right, not what you think the high headquarters wants or what you think will make you look good.

For the entire first part of my career, I prided myself on being unflappable even in the most chaotic of circumstances.

To be an effective leader, you have to have a manipulative streak - you have to figure out the people working for you and give each tasks that will take advantage of his strength. — To be an effective leader, you have to have a manipulative streak – you have to figure out the people working for you and give each tasks that will take advantage of his strength.

I get angry at a principle, not a person.

You can't help someone get up a hill without getting closer to the top yourself. — You can’t help someone get up a hill without getting closer to the top yourself.

I've got to tell you what, the soldier doesn't fight very hard for a leader who is going to shoot him, okay, on his own whim. That's not what military leadership is all about. — I’ve got to tell you what, the soldier doesn’t fight very hard for a leader who is going to shoot him, okay, on his own whim. That’s not what military leadership is all about.

Someone once asked, 'What is the difference between me and Saddam Hussein?' The answer is, 'I have a conscience and he doesn't.' — Someone once asked, ‘What is the difference between me and Saddam Hussein?’ The answer is, ‘I have a conscience and he doesn’t.’

Good generalship is the realisation that you've got to figure out how to accomplish your mission with the minimum loss of human life. — Good generalship is the realisation that you’ve got to figure out how to accomplish your mission with the minimum loss of human life.

6 Norman Schwarzkopf Quotes on Hunting and Fishing

“What people don’t understand is this is something that we only have in America. There is no other country in the world where the ordinary citizen can go out and enjoy hunting and fishing. There’s no other nation in the world where that happens. And it’s very much a part of our heritage.”
Norman Schwarzkopf

The fun of fishing is catching 'em, not killing 'em. — The fun of fishing is catching ’em, not killing ’em.

I do hunt, and I do fish, and I don't apologize to anybody for hunting and fishing. — I do hunt, and I do fish, and I don’t apologize to anybody for hunting and fishing.

Fish are a renewable resource, and one of the problems we've had is people feel obliged to catch the limit, then throw 'em in the garbage can. — Fish are a renewable resource, and one of the problems we’ve had is people feel obliged to catch the limit, then throw ’em in the garbage can.

I am an environmentalist, but I'm not a wacko environmentalist. I believe that mankind and nature can live side-by-side for the mutual benefit of both. — I am an environmentalist, but I’m not a wacko environmentalist. I believe that mankind and nature can live side-by-side for the mutual benefit of both.

“I can stand in a crystal stream without another human around me and cast all day long, and if I never catch a single fish, I can come home and still feel like I had a wonderful time. It’s the being there that’s important.”
Norman Schwarzkopf