Nothing so comforts the military mind as the maxim of a great but dead general.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him.
I am convinced that the best service a retired general can perform is to turn in his tongue along with his suit and to mothball his opinions.
Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.
If there is not the war, you don't get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don't get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name.
They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.
It's always the generals with the bloodiest records who are the first to shout what a hell it is. And it's always the war widows who lead the Memorial Day parades.
It is tragic that the Fuehrer should have the whole nation behind him with the single exception of the Army generals. In my opinion it is only by action that they can now atone for their faults of lack of character and discipline.
A private soldier has as much right to justice as a major-general.
The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can depend on their response.
Dead battles, like dead generals, hold the military mind in their dead grip.