Douglas MacArthur Quotes - Page 5

In war, as it is waged now, with the enormous losses on both sides, both sides will lose. It is a form of mutual suicide.

We have known the bitterness of defeat and the exultation of triumph, and from both we have learned there can be no turning back. We must go forward to preserve in peace what we won in war. A new era is upon us. Even the lesson of victory itself brings with it profound concern, both for our future security and the survival of civilization. The destructiveness of the war potential, through progressive advances in scientific discovery, has in fact now reached a point which revises the traditional concepts of war.

It seems strangely difficult for some to realize that here in Asia is where the Communist conspirators have elected to make their play for global conquest, and that we have joined the issue thus raised on the battlefield; that here we fight Europe's war with arms while the diplomats there still fight it with words; that if we lose the war to communism in Asia the fall of Europe is inevitable, win it and Europe most probably would avoid war and yet preserve freedom. As you pointed out, we must win. There is no substitute for victory.

To dilute the will to win is to destroy the purpose of the game. There is no substitute for victory.

I suppose, in a way, this has become part of my soul. It is a symbol of my life. Whatever I have done that really matters, I've done wearing it. When the time comes, it will be in this that I journey forth. What greater honor could come to an American, and a soldier?

The world has turned over many times since I took the oath on the plain at West Point?but I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular ballads of that day which proclaimed most proudly that old soldiers never die; they just fade away.

There is no security. Only opportunity.

No army has ever done so much with so little.

On the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that on other days, on other fields will bear the fruits of victory.

Men since the beginning of time have sought peace.

I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil.

In war, indeed, there can be no substitute for victory.

In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield.

The great question is, can war be outlawed from the world? If so, it would mark the greatest advance in civilization since the Sermon on the Mount.

By profession I am a soldier and take great pride in that fact, but I am prouder, infinitely prouder, to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build; the father only builds, never destroys. The one has the potentialities of death; the other embodies creation and life.

The outfit soon took on color, dash and a unique flavor which is the essence of that elusive and deathless thing called soldiering.

Here are centered the hopes and aspirations and faith of the entire human race. I do not stand here as advocate for any partisan cause, for the issues are fundamental and reach quite beyond the realm of partisan consideration. They must be resolved on the highest plane of national interest if our course is to prove sound and our future protected. I trust, therefore, that you will do me the justice of receiving that which I have to say as solely expressing the considered viewpoint of a fellow American.

The scale and grandeur of the Russian effort mark it as the greatest military achievement in all history.

I address you with neither rancor nor bitterness in the fading twilight of life, with but one purpose in mind: to serve my country. The issues are global and so interlocked that to consider the problems of one sector, oblivious to those of another, is but to court disaster for the whole. While Asia is commonly referred to as the Gateway to Europe, it is no less true that Europe is the Gateway to Asia, and the broad influence of the one cannot fail to have its impact upon the other.

Global war has become Frankenstein's monster, threatening to destroy both sides.

The untruthful soldier trifles with the lives of his countrymen and the honor and safety of his country.

I've looked that old scoundrel death in the eye many times but this time I think he has me on the ropes.

I address you with neither rancor nor bitterness in the fading twilight of life, with but one purpose in mind: to serve my country.

My first recollection is that of a bugle call.

It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.