What the moral army needs just now is more rank and file and fewer brigadier generals.

Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]

(Attributed)

Widely attributed to Billings, but I cannot find it in his online published works or with any citation that checks out. It is mentioned in Fred Lewis Pattee, A History of American Literature Since 1870 (1915), but without citation.

As the above lacks any of the traditional "rural" spellings associated with Billings' works, it is possible that it exists with a spelling I have not searched.