Whereas ordinary officers must be content with behaving correctly in front of their men, the great leaders have always carefully stage-managed their effects.

When I am right, I get angry. Churchill gets angry when he is wrong. We are angry at each other much of the time.

Genius sometimes consists of knowing when to stop.

I predict you will sink step by step into a bottomless quagmire, however much you spend in men and money." (On Vietnam War)

Men are of no importance. What counts is who commands.

Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.

You start out giving your hat, then you give your coat, then your shirt, then your skin and finally your soul.