Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively and completely. But one must know the limitations of force; one must know when to blend force with a maneuver, a blow with an agreement.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
We must be prepared to face our responsibilities and be willing to use force if necessary.
Force is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the second it crushes, the first it intoxicates. The truth is, nobody really possesses it.
If one must fight or create, it is necessary that this be preceded by the broadest possible knowledge.
Force is not inevitable. Diplomacy is still the desired means. Pressure is an element of the means.
You really have to act on the force, too. You're involved in a hundred things a day, and you have to react in a hundred different ways, depending on what's going on. And you learn that as you go through your career, how you handle certain situations, interrogations, how you carry yourself. There's a kind of acting to it.
There is great force hidden in a gentle command.
Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.
Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.
People in uniform are not sacrosanct. They don't have all the answers. The use of force is a political decision at its core, in terms of its objectives; then the military, as the experts, must be brought in to tell you how to do it.
Force has no place where there is need of skill.