Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. (August 22, 1934December 27, 2012), also known as Stormin' Norman, was a United States Army 4 Star General who, while he served as Commander-in-Chief (now known as "Combatant Commander") of U.S. Central Command, was commander of the Coalition Forces in the Gulf War of 1991.

Quotes

Do what is right, not what you think the high headquarters wants or what you think will make you look good.
  • A professional soldier understands that war means killing people, war means maiming people, war means families left without fathers and mothers. All you have to do is hold your first dying soldier in your arms, and have that terribly futile feeling that his life is flowing out and you can’t do anything about it. Then you understand the horror of war.
    Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for.
    • As quoted in U.S. News & World Report, Vol. 110, Issues 5 (1991 Feb 11), p. 32
  • As far as Saddam Hussein being a great military strategist: He is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational art, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier. Other than that, he's a great military man.
    • Gulf War briefing (28 February 1991), as quoted in "WAR IN THE GULF: Commander's Briefing; Excerpts From Schwarzkopf News Conference on Gulf War" in The New York Times
  • It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.
    • Interview with Barbara Walters (15 March 1991); also quoted in his memoir It Doesn't Take a Hero : General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the Autobiography (1992), p. xiii
  • Do what is right, not what you think the high headquarters wants or what you think will make you look good.
    • Quoted in "The Military Quotation Book" (2002) by James Charlton, p. 60
  • True courage is being afraid, and going ahead and doing your job.
    • As quoted in General H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. Interview with the American Academy of Achievement [1]
    • As quoted in Pocket Patriot : Quotes from American Heroes (2005) by Kelly Nickell, p. 53
  • I believe that forgiving them is God's function. Our job is to arrange the meeting.
    • As quoted in I Fail to Miss Your Point (2007) by Jim O'Bryon, p. 409
  • When placed in command — take charge.
    • Quoted in "Leadership" (2007) by David M. Atkinson, p. 42
  • The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.
    • Quoted in The Daily Book of Positive Quotations (2008) by Linda Picone, p. 326
  • Frankly, any man that doesn't cry scares me a little bit. I don't think I would like a man who was incapable of enough emotion to get tears in his eyes every now and then. That type of person scares me. That's not a human being.

Quotes about Schwarzkopf

  • US forces were having no luck finding and destroying Iraqi Scud surface-to-surface missiles before they could be launched at Israel and elsewhere. So it was with welcome surprise that Colin Powell, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, learned that Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf had told the press that several Scuds had been located and destroyed on their launchers. Before Powell had time to rejoice, though, his intelligence chief warned that an imagery analyst on Schwarzkopf’s own staff had concluded that what had been destroyed were not Scuds but oil tanker trucks. Powell called Schwarzkopf at once, but Schwarzkopf badmouthed the imagery analyst and delivered himself of such a rich string of expletives that Powell decided to let the story stand–a decision he regretted the next day when CNN showed photos of the destroyed Jordanian oil tankers.


Disputed

  • Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.
    • Quoted in "The Military Quotation Book" (2002) by James Charlton, p. 83
  • The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.
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