“There are three ways that men get what they want: by planning, by working, and by praying. Any great military operation takes careful planning or thinking. Then you must have well trained troops to carry it out: that's working. But between the plan and the operation there is always an unknown. That unknown spells defeat or victory; success or failure. It is the reaction of the actors to the ordeal when it actually comes. Some people call that getting the breaks. I call it God. God has His part or margin in everything. That's where prayer comes in.”

“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed at some indefinite time in the future.”

“Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do onething. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let thebody tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up.It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body isnever tired if the mind is not tired. When you were youngerthe mind could make you dance all night, and the body wasnever tired... You've always got to make the mind take overand keep going.”

“Every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he s not he s a liar. Some men are cowards but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared.Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some it takes an hour. For some it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor his sense of duty to his country and his innate manhood. Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base.”

“A man must know his destiny… if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder… if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it.”

“Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.”

“Hannah: What's your plan?Claire: Go get himHannah: Honey, that is not a plan. That's what we in the military call an objective.”