“An army that waits is soon an army at war with itself.”
Steven Erikson book House of Chains
House of Chains (2002)
Quoted by Friedrich Engels in Waldersee über die französische Armee, 1861 http://ciml.250x.com/archive/marx_engels/english/mecwsh/mecwsh-18_365.pdf
“An army that waits is soon an army at war with itself.”
Steven Erikson book House of Chains
House of Chains (2002)
“It is not possible to foretell the reaction of certain elements in the Army and Navy.”
Yoshijirō Umezu (1882–1949) Japanese general
Quoted in "The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb" - Page 107 - by Dennis Wainstock - History - 1996.
Allen West (politician) (1961) American politician; retired United States Army officer
2010s, Folks, you’re missing the point about the NFL protests (19 October 2017)
“Armies usually aren’t interested in wars.”
Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist
Interview by Hugh Gusterson, November 2000 http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/2002----.pdf. <br class="br">Quotes 2000s, 2002 <br class="br">Context: Armies usually aren’t interested in wars. They like preparation for war. But they have an understandable reluctance to fight a war. So I think if you look at, at least the history that I know, it’s usually the civilian leadership who is pushing the military to do something. It was the case in the early days of the Vietnam War.
“Popular forces can win a war against an army.”
Ernesto Che Guevara book Guerrilla Warfare
Guerrilla Warfare (1960)
“Can the Army win the war before the Navy loses it?”
John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher (1841–1920) Royal Navy admiral of the fleet
The World Crisis, Vol 3, 1916-1918, Part I (1927), Churchill, Thornton Butterworth (London), p. 283.
“Conflict defines nations. Enemies justify armies. Wars glorify generals.”
Nick Drake (poet) (1961) British writer
Ch 7
The Rahotep series, Book 3: Egypt: The Book of Chaos (2011)
Context: Conflict defines nations. Enemies justify armies. Wars glorify generals. Without his great enemy to give him purpose and meaning, he will be significantly diminished. He will have to come to terms with us.
“Europe needs an army to fight the resource wars of the twenty-first century.”
Jacques Delors (1925) French economist and politician
Variations of this have circulated among Irish and left-wing Eurosceptic groups. Delors explicitly denied making any such statement in 1992 and 1998 in the leadup to Irish referendums on the Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties. Commentators have found no evidence for it. <br class="br">Attributions: <br class="br">[Facing the threat of Brussels rule at our expense, https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1991/1121/Pg014.html#Ar01400, 30 July 2019, The Irish Times, 21 November 1991, 14, subscription, Anthony, Coughlan] <br class="br">[Proinsias, de Rossa, https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1991-11-29/3/#para_191, 29 November 1991, Dáil Éireann debates, Maastricht Summit: Motion] <br class="br">[Maastricht and neutrality : Ireland's neutrality and the future of Europe, John, Maguire, Joe, Noonan, 1992, Cork, People First/Meitheal, 19–20] <br class="br">[Fox, Carol, Gearing up, 25554848, Fortnight, 1994, 334, 11–12: 12, 0141-7762] <br class="br">[Joe, Higgins, https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1997-10-16/24/#para_608, 16 October 1997, Dáil Éireann debates, Amsterdam Treaty: Statements (Resumed)] <br class="br"> Edward, Spalton, 4 July 2004, (Letter) Fashion statement, Daily Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/3608033/Fashion-statement.html, <br class="br"> John, Boyd, Campaign Against European Federalism, Europe for Peace Conference, Manchester, 5 March 2005 https://web.archive.org/web/20070809083941/http://www.gmdcnd.org.uk/events/europeconference/amC.htm, <br class="br">[Gibson, Dirk C., Commercial Space Tourism: Impediments to Industrial Development and Strategic Communication Solutions, 2012, Bentham Science Publishers, 9781608052394, 12, https://books.google.ie/books?id=hSkW9TW3omEC&pg=PA12, 21 July 2019] <br class="br"> The European Alliance of EU-critical Movements, EU Counter Summit Statement, London, 7 November 2015 http://teameurope.co/statements.html, <br class="br">[The financial cost of signing up to PESCO, https://people.ie/news/PN-178.pdf, People's News, People's Movement, Dublin, 178, 20 December 2017] <br class="br"> Morning Star, Macron calls for joint EU army project to step up a gear, 27 August 2018 https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/macron-calls-joint-eu-army-project-step-gear, <br class="br">Refutations: <br class="br"> The Irish Times, subscription, 12 June 1992, 12, Colm, Boland, 'Interference' by Delors denounced https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1992/0612/Pg007.html#Ar00701, <br class="br">[30001811, Ireland's Foreign Relations in 1992, Patrick, Keatinge, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 4, 1993, 72 [footnote]] <br class="br"> McKenna's case not a Euromyth, 15 May 1998, Patrick, Smyth, The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/mckenna-s-case-not-a-euromyth-1.152890, <br class="br">Misattributed