The sound of the drum drives out thought; for that very reason it is the most military of instruments.

He [Gen. Douglas MacArthur] was a great thundering paradox of a man, noble and ignoble, inspiring and outrageous, arrogant and shy, the best of men and the worst of men, the most protean, most ridiculous, and most sublime.

The military caste did not originate as a party of patriots, but as a party of bandits.

A cause breaks or exalts a soldier's strength; unless that cause is just, shame will make him throw his weapons away.

You cannot organize civilization around the core of militarism and at the same time expect reason to control human destinies.

Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die.

The pitifulest thing out is a mob; that's what an army is-a mob; they don't fight with courage that's born in them, but with courage that's borrowed from their mass, and from their officers.

The army is a nation within the nation; it is a vice of our time.

We want to get rid of the militarist not simply because he hurts and kills, but because he is an intolerable thick-voiced blockhead who stands hectoring and blustering in our way to achievement.

If General Haig is so smart, why did he finish 214th (out of 310) in his graduating class at West Point? Does that mean there are 213 generals his age who are smarter than he is?