WIST Quotations

Bradley, Omar -- Testimony, Senate Committees on Armed Services and Foreign Relations (15 May 1951)

Dave — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 21:25:53 +0000

I am under no illusion that our present strategy of using means short of total war to achieve our ends and oppose communism is a guarantee that a world war will not be thrust upon us. But a policy of patience and determination without provoking a world war, while we improve our military power, is one which we believe we must continue to follow. … Under present circumstances, we have recommended against enlarging the war from Korea to also include Red China. The course of action often described as a limited war with Red China would increase the risk we are taking by engaging too much of our power in an area that is not the critical strategic prize. Red China is not the powerful nation seeking to dominate the world. Frankly, in the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this strategy would involve us in the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy.

Omar Bradley (1893-1981) American general
Testimony, Senate Committees on Armed Services and Foreign Relations (15 May 1951)

Sun-Tzu -- The Art of War, “Estimates” (18) [tr. Griffith (1963)]

Dave — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 12:12:26 +0000

When capable, feign incapacity; when active, inactivity.

Sun-Tzu (fl. 6th C. AD) Chinese general and philosopher [a.k.a. Sun Wu]
The Art of War, “Estimates” (18) [tr. Griffith (1963)]

Lynd, Robert Wilson -- Searchlights and Nightingales (1939)

Dave — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:00:50 +0000

The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.

Robert Wilson Lynd (1879–1949) Irish writer, literary essayist, journalist, nationalist (Robiard Ó Flionn; pseud. "Y. Y.")
Searchlights and Nightingales (1939)
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