Explore Quotes by George C. Marshall

I must have assistants who will solve their own problems and tell me later what they've done.

A political problem thought of in military terms eventually becomes a military problem.

When a general complains of the morale of his troops, the time has come to look at his own.

Regarding the air raid over Los Angeles it was learned by Army G2 that Rear Admiral Anderson...recovered an unidentified airplane off the coast of California...with no bearing on conventional explanation. This Headquarters has come to the determination that the mystery airplanes are in fact not earthly and, according to secret intelligence sources, they are in all probability of interplanetary origin.

What other people do shouldn't affect you - we do things because of the kind of person we each want to be

Democracy is the most demanding of all forms of government in terms of the energy, imagination, and public spirit required of the individual.

No compromise is possible and the victory of the democracies can only be complete with the utter defeat of the war machines of Germany and Japan.

The gallantry and aggressive fighting spirit of the Russian soldiers command the American army's admiration.

The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it.

If man does find the solution for world peace it will be the most revolutionary reversal of his record we have ever known.

I was very careful to send Mr. Roosevelt every few days a statement of our casualties. I tried to keep before him all the time the casualty results because you get hardened to these things and you have to be very careful to keep them always in the forefront of your mind.

When a thing is done, it's done. Don't look back. Look forward to your next objective.

Passive inactivity, because you have not been given specific instructions to do this or to do that, is a serious deficiency.

Go right straight down the road, to do what is best, and to do it frankly and without evasion.

I can't expect loyalty from the army if I do not give it.

Don't fight the problem, decide it.

I think one difficulty is that the problem is one of such enormous complexity that the very mass of facts presented to the public by press and radio make it exceedingly difficult for the man in the street to reach a clear appraisement of the situation. It is virtually impossible at this distance to grasp at all the real significance of the situation.

Wars are bred by poverty and oppression. Continued peace is possible only in a relatively free and prosperous world.

Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.

There has been considerable comment over the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a soldier. I am afraid this does not seem as remarkable to me as it quite evidently appears to others. I know a great deal of the horrors and tragedies of war. ... The cost of war in human lives is constantly spread before me, written neatly in many ledgers whose columns are gravestones. I am deeply moved to find some means or method of avoiding another calamity of war.

The one great element in continuing the success of an offensive is maintaining the momentum. This was lost last fall when shortages caused by the limitation of port facilities made it impossible to get sufficient supplies to the armies when they approached the German border.