Bernard Law Montgomery Quotes

Decisions! And a general, a commander in chief who has not got the quality of decision, then he is no good.

The harder the fighting and the longer the war, the more the infantry, and in fact all the arms, lean on the gunners.

Why does soldiers leave the protection of his trench hole in the ground and go forward in the face of shot and shell? It is because of the leader who is in front of him and his comrades who are around him. Comradeship makes a man feel warm and courageous when all his instincts tend to make him cold and afraid.

The first duty of a leader is opti­mism. How does your sub­or­di­nate feel after meet­ing with you? Does he feel uplifted? If not, you are not a leader.

The commander must decide how he will fight the battle before it begins. He must then decide who he will use the military effort at his disposal to force the battle to swing the way he wishes it to go; he must make the enemy dance to his tune from the beginning and not vice versa.

Rule 1, on page I of the book of war, is: "Do not march on Moscow". Various people have tried it, Napoleon and Hitler, and it is no good. That is the first rule. I do not know whether your Lordships will know Rule 2 of war. It is: "Do not go fighting with your land armies in China". It is a vast country, with no clearly defined objectives...

My own definition of leadership is this: The capacity and the will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.

Discipline strengthens the mind so that it becomes impervious to the corroding influence of fear.

Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: 'Do not march on Moscow'... Rule 2 is: Do not go fighting with your land armies in China.

I was well beaten myself, and I am better for it.

As God once said, and I think rightly.

Air power is indivisible. If you split it up into compartments, you merely pull it to pieces and destroy its greatest asset - its flexibility.

Every soldier must know, before he goes into battle, how the little battle he is to fight fits into the larger picture, and how the success of his fighting will influence the battle as a whole.

Let no man surrender so long as he is unwounded and can fight.

If we lose the war in the air we lose the war and lose it quickly.

A Marine should be sworn to the patient endurance of hardships, like the ancient knights; and it is not the least of these necessary hardships to have to serve with sailors.

The Sappers really need no tribute from me; their reward lies in the glory of their achievement. The more science intervenes in warfare, the more will be the need for engineers in field armies; in the late war there were never enough Sappers at any time. Their special tasks involved the upkeep and repair of communications; roads, bridges, railways, canals, mine sweeping. The Sappers rose to great heights in World War II and their contribution to victory was beyond all calculations.