You have won battles without cannon, crossed rivers without bridges, made forced marches without shoes, camped without brandy and often without bread. Soldiers of liberty, only republican phalanxes [infantry troops] could have endured what you have endured.

Battles are the principal milestones in secular history. Modern opinion resents this uninspiring truth, and historians often treat the decisions of the field as incidents in the dramas of politics and diplomacy.

Wars are not won by evacuations.

Our strength is our quickness and our brutality. Genghis Khan led millions of women and children to slaughter... History sees in him solely the founder of a state... What weak Western European civilization thinks about me is of no consequence.

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.

I never saw a pessimistic general win a battle.