As quoted in Serving "60 Years to Life", Newsweek Europe (12 December 2005)
“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… 1880–1964Related quotes
“The Government can lose the war without you; they cannot win it without you.”
Speech to the Trades Union Congress in Bristol (9 September 1915), quoted in The Times (10 September 1915), p. 9
Minister of Munitions
As quoted in "Nate Diaz discusses win over Conor McGregor" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg6NkqFPOyY (5 March 2016), UFC on FOX, FOX
“Can the Army win the war before the Navy loses it?”
The World Crisis, Vol 3, 1916-1918, Part I (1927), Churchill, Thornton Butterworth (London), p. 283.
Variant: “You remember winning, don’t you? A battle won, somewhere?”
“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.
Source: Dandelion Wine (1957), p. 85
Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People