There is no such thing as an unimportant person in an organization.

Our senior officers knew the war was going badly. Yet they bowed to groupthink pressure and kept up pretenses. ...Many of my generation, the career captains, majors, and lieutenant colonels seasoned in that war, vowed that when our turn came to call the shots, we would not quietly acquiesce in halfhearted warfare for half-baked reasons that the American people could not understand.

We are not trapped in what the science of management says we can do. We are capable of doing what the art of leadership says is possible.

When we are debating an issue, loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I'll like it or not. Disagreement, at this state, stimulates me. But once a decision is made, the debate ends. From that point on, loyalty means executing the decision as if it were your own.

Even the greatest of all strategists must occasionally take into account the presence of an enemy.

Have fun in your command. Don't always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you've earned it, spend time with your families.

Luck tends to come to people who are prepared.