Dwight David Eisenhower > Quotes

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Don't join the book burners. Don't think you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book...”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Never waste a minute thinking about people you don't like.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Extremes to the right and to the left of any political dispute are always wrong.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom. ”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“You do not lead by hitting people over the head -- that's assault, not leadership.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses -because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group of course that believes you can do these things. Among them are a few other Texas oil millionaires and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Never let yourself be persuaded that any one Great Man, any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America. When America consists of one leader and 158 million followers, it will no longer be America.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.”
― Dwight David Eisenhower

“Never question another man's motive. His wisdom, yes, but not his motives.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“No man is worth your tears, but once you find one that is, he won't make you cry.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion. ”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have
striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The
hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.
In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on
other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war
machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of
Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well
equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of
1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats,
in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their
strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home
Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions
of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.
The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to
Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in
battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great
and noble undertaking.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Never send a battalion to take a hill if a regiment is available.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Pessimism never won any battle.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“The history of free men is never written by chance but by choice - their choice.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Always try to associate yourself with and learn as much as you can from those who know more than you do, who do better than you, who see more clearly than you.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower, At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends

“Pull the string and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower