Gen Douglas Macarthur Quotes

It is true that despite occasional gleams of Churchillian eloquence he [Gen. Douglas MacArthur] usually spoke poorly. He was far more effective in conversations a deux. But those who dismiss him as shallow because his rhetoric was fustian err. ~ William Manchester

He [Gen. Douglas MacArthur] was a great thundering paradox of a man, noble and ignoble, inspiring and outrageous, arrogant and shy, the best of men and the worst of men, the most protean, most ridiculous, and most sublime. ~ William Manchester

Truman fired the popular Gen. Douglas MacArthur because he disobeyed orders in the Korean War. Johnson knew that he had reached the endgame in Vietnam when Gen. William Westmoreland, the top commander in Vietnam, requested 240,000 more troops in 1968 for the prolonged war that also could not be won. ~ Helen Thomas

I realize that advice is worth what it costs
that is, nothing. ~ Douglas MacArthur

We are not retreating - we are advancing in another Direction ~ Douglas MacArthur

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. Douglas MacArthur ~ Terri Marie

Training distinguishes an army from an armed mob. ~ Douglas MacArthur

You don't win wars by dying for your country you win wars by making the other son of a bitch die for his ~ Douglas MacArthur

In no other profession are the penalties for employing untrained personnel so appalling or so irrevocable as in the military. ~ Douglas MacArthur

That democracy works and will always work, because the people are allowed to think, to talk, and keep their minds free, open, and supple. ~ Douglas MacArthur

Rules are mostly made to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind. ~ Douglas MacArthur

While no man in his right mind would advocate sending our ground forces into continental China, and such was never given a thought, the new situation did urgently demand a drastic revision of strategic planning if our political aim was to defeat this new enemy as we had defeated the old. ~ Douglas MacArthur

The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. ~ Douglas MacArthur

To dilute the will to win is to destroy the purpose of the game. There is no substitute for victory. ~ Douglas MacArthur

Age wrinkles the body; quitting wrinkles the soul. ~ Douglas MacArthur

He was a thundering paradox of a man, noble and ignoble, inspiring and outrageous, arrogant and shy, the best of me and the worst of men, the most protean, most ridiculous, and most sublime. No more baffling, exasperating soldier ever wore a uniform. Flamboyant, imperious, and apocalyptic, he carried the plumage of a flamingo, could not acknowledge errors, and tried to cover up his mistakes with sly, childish tricks. Yet he was also endowed with great personal charm, a will of iron, and a soaring intellect. Unquestionably he was the most gifted man-at arms- this nation has produced. -William Manchester on Douglas MacArthur ~ William Manchester

Even when opportunity knocks, a man still has to get up off his seat and open the door. ~ Douglas MacArthur

The object and practice of liberty lies in the limitation of government power. ~ Douglas MacArthur

A soldier plods and groans, sweats and toils, he growls and curses, and at the end he dies. ~ Douglas MacArthur

I came through and I shall return. ~ Douglas MacArthur

Expect only 5% of an intelligence report to be accurate.The trick of a good commander is to isolate the 5%. ~ Douglas MacArthur

Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear - kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor - with the cry of grave national emergency. ~ Douglas MacArthur

Old soldiers never die; they just fade away. ~ Douglas MacArthur

Nothing would please me better than if they would give me three months and then attack here. ~ Douglas MacArthur

It seems strangely difficult for some to realize that here in Asia is where the Communist conspirators have elected to make their play for global conquest, and that we have joined the issue thus raised on the battlefield; that here we fight Europe's war with arms while the diplomats there still fight it with words; that if we lose the war to communism in Asia the fall of Europe is inevitable, win it and Europe most probably would avoid war and yet preserve freedom. As you pointed out, we must win. There is no substitute for victory. ~ Douglas MacArthur

The soldier, above all other men, is required to perform the highest act of religious offering-sacrifice. In battle and in the face of danger and death he discloses those divine attributes which his amke gave when he created in his own image. No physical courage and no brute instincts can take the place of the divine annunciation and spiritual gift which will alone sustain him. ~ Douglas MacArthur

By profession I am a soldier and take pride in that fact. But I am prouder - infinitely prouder - to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build; the father only builds, never destroys. The one has the potentiality of death; the other embodies creation and life. And while the hordes of death are mighty, the battalions of life are mightier still. It is my hope that my son, when I am gone, will remember me not from the battle field but in the home repeating with him our simple daily prayer, Our Father Who Art in Heaven. ~ Douglas MacArthur

Men will not fight and die without knowing what they are fighting and dying for. ~ Douglas MacArthur

A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him. ~ Douglas MacArthur

Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons. ~ Douglas MacArthur

For those to whom much is given, much is required. It is not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up. There is no substitute for victory. ~ Douglas MacArthur

There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity. ~ Douglas MacArthur

The history of the failure of war can almost be summed up in two words: too late. ~ Douglas MacArthur

The outfit soon took on color, dash and a unique flavor which is the essence of that elusive and deathless thing called soldiering. ~ Douglas MacArthur

I have known war as few men now living know it. It's very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes. ~ Douglas MacArthur

The issues which today confront the nation are clearly defined and so fundamental as to directly involve the very survival of the Republic. Are we going to preserve the religious base to our origin, our growth and our progress, or yield to the devious assaults of atheistic or other anti-religious forces? Are we going to maintain our present course toward State Socialism with Communism just beyond or reverse the present trend and regain our hold upon our heritage of liberty and freedom? ~ Douglas MacArthur

In war, as it is waged now, with the enormous losses on both sides, both sides will lose. It is a form of mutual suicide. ~ Douglas MacArthur

Our country is now geared to an arms economy bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and an incessant propaganda of fear. ~ Douglas MacArthur

If there is anything that makes my blood boil it is to see our allies in Indochina and Java deploying Japanese troops to reconquer the little people we promised to liberate. It is the most ignoble kind of betrayal. ~ Douglas MacArthur

Never ask age of a woman. ~ Douglas MacArthur

In war, you win or lose, live or die - and the difference is just an eyelash. ~ Douglas MacArthur

The whole point of Gen X was, and continues to be, a negation of being forced into Baby Boomerdom against one's will. ~ Douglas Coupland

I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world! ~ Douglas MacArthur

It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it. ~ Douglas MacArthur

The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself. ~ Douglas MacArthur

Optimism is denial, so face the facts and move on ~ Douglas MacArthur

Here are centered the hopes and aspirations and faith of the entire human race. I do not stand here as advocate for any partisan cause, for the issues are fundamental and reach quite beyond the realm of partisan consideration. They must be resolved on the highest plane of national interest if our course is to prove sound and our future protected. I trust, therefore, that you will do me the justice of receiving that which I have to say as solely expressing the considered viewpoint of a fellow American. ~ Douglas MacArthur

The untruthful soldier trifles with the lives of his countrymen and the honor and safety of his country. ~ Douglas MacArthur

In war, indeed, there can be no substitute for victory. ~ Douglas MacArthur