Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
From Wikiquote
H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., also known as "Stormin' Norman" (b. August 22, 1934), is a retired United States Army 4 Star General who, while he served as Commander-in-Chief (now known as "Combatant Commander") of U.S. Central Command, was commander of the Coalition Forces in the Gulf War of 1991.
Schwarzkopf was born in Trenton, New Jersey (but resided in Lawrenceville, New Jersey) to Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, then the Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. His connection with the Persian Gulf region began very early on. In 1946, when he was 12, he and the rest of his family joined their father, stationed in Tehran, Iran, where his father would go on to be instrumental in Operation Ajax. He attended the Community High School in Tehran, later the International School of Geneva, and attended and graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy. He is also a member of Mensa.
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- Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.
- Quoted in "The Military Quotation Book" - Page 83 - by James Charlton - 2002
- The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.
- Quoted in "The Daily Book of Positive Quotations" - Page 326 - by Linda Picone - 2008
- Do what is right, not what you think the high headquarters wants or what you think will make you look good.
- Quoted in "The Military Quotation Book" - Page 60 - by James Charlton - 2002
- When placed in command -- take charge.
- Quoted in "Leadership" by David M. Atkinson - Page 42 - 2007
- As far as Saddam Hussein being a great military strategist: He is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational art, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier. Other than that, he's a great military man.
- 1990-91 Gulf War briefing, 28 February 1992. Reported in New York Times article "WAR IN THE GULF: Commander's Briefing; Excerpts From Schwarzkopf News Conference on Gulf War" on that date.
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- True courage is being afraid, and going ahead and doing your job.
- Any soldier worth his salt should be anti-war. And yet there are things still worth fighting for.
- When you get on that plane to go home, if the last thing you think about me is "I hate that son of a bitch," then that is fine because you're going home alive.
- I believe that forgiving them is God's function. Our job is to arrange the meeting.
- Wars aren't won by dying for your cause. Wars are won by getting your enemy to die for theirs.
