“It was close; but that's the way it is in war. You win or lose, live or die — and the difference is just an eyelash.”

To Gen. Richard Sutherland after their flight over Japanese held territory to reach Australia (17 March 1942), as quoted in MacArthur and the War Against Japan (1944) by Frazier Hunt, p. 71

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Douglas MacArthur 50
U.S. Army general of the army, field marshal of the Army of… 1880–1964

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“No,” said the old man, deep under. “I don’t remember anyone winning anywhere any time. War’s never a winning thing, Charlie. You just lose all the time, and the one who loses last asks for terms. All I remember is a lot of losing and sadness and nothing good but the end of it. The end of it, Charles, that was a winning all to itself, having nothing to do with guns.”

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