Omar Bradley, the senior officer of the US Army, was the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and served during and after World War II.
Omar Bradley was born in Clark, Missouri, in the United States, on February 12, 1893. He died on April 8, 1981, holding the title of the last of five-star generals.
Omar Bradley decided to enter military service after his Sunday school teacher encouraged him that he may qualify for a West Point appointment. In 1911, he was accepted into a military academy and graduated in 1915. After graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant; however, he also continued pursuing his studies at Infantry School.
Omar Bradley taught at West Point under superintendent Douglas MacArthur. Later, he became the first JCS chairman and senior commander in the army. Here are some carefully curated quotes by him.
Famous Omar Bradley Quotes
Omar Bradley worked as a boilermaker before entering the US Military Academy and taught at the Infantry School in Fort Benning. Besides, he also supervised the US military policy-making in the Korean War. Find the famous quotes and sayings by Omar Bradley from his speeches and interviews here.
"Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship."
"Our technology has already outstripped our ability to control it."
"As far as I am concerned, war itself is immoral."
"The second best decision in time is infinitely better than the perfect decision too late."
"Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics."
"I am convinced that the best service a retired general can perform is to turn in his tongue along with his suit and to mothball his opinions."
"This is as true in everyday life as it is in battle: we are given one life, and the decision is ours whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act and in acting, to live."
"The way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts."
"I walked to the window and ripped open the blackout blinds. Outside, the sun was climbing into the sky. The war in Europe had ended."
"A piece of paper makes you an officer; a radio makes you a commander."
"I learned the rudiments of effective command. When an officer performed as I expected him to, I gave him a free hand. When he hesitated, I tried to help him. And when he failed, I relieved him."
"We are dealing with veterans, not procedures; with their problems, not ours."
"The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy."
"Wars can be prevented just as surely as they can be provoked, and we who fail to prevent them must share the guilt for the dead."
"I have returned many times to honour the valiant men who died...every man who set foot on Omaha Beach was a hero."
Omar Bradley Leadership Quotes
Omar Bradley was one of the most powerful and famous United States Army field commanders in North Africa and Europe after World War II. Below are famous and rare leadership quotes from General Omar Bradley taken from his speeches, interviews, and from his book 'A Soldier's Story' published in 1951.
"Leadership is intangible, and therefore no weapon ever designed can replace it."
"America today is running on the momentum of a godly ancestry, and when that momentum runs down, God help America."
"No commander can become a strategist until he first knows his men. Far from being a handicap to command, compassion is the measure of it. For unless one values the lives of his soldiers and is tormented by their ordeals, he is unfit for command."
"The greatness of a leader is measured by the achievements of the led. This is the ultimate test of his effectiveness."
"Allied command has become the accepted pattern of military operation, and many of the insular differences that once caused us to question the motives of our allies have now been completely resolved."
"I learned that good judgment comes from experience and that experience grows out of mistakes."
"It seems very unfortunate that in order to secure political preference, people are made Vice President who are never intended, neither by party nor by the Lord, to be Presidents."
"During the last six years, the United States Army has not only matured greatly, but its officers have grown vastly more aware of their worldwide responsibilities as military men."
"Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace..."
"We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.
"Man is stumbling blindly through a spiritual darkness while toying with the precarious secrets of life and death. The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience."
"Leadership means firmness, not harshness or bullying; understanding, not weakness; justice, not irresponsible freedom; humaneness, not intolerance; generosity, not selfishness; pride, not egotism."
"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...."
"If you will help run our government in the American way, then there will never be any danger of our government running America in the wrong way."
"Each player on this team, whether he shines in the spotlight or eats dirt on the line, must be an All-American."
"Dependability, integrity, the characteristic of never knowingly doing anything wrong, that you would never cheat anyone, that you would give everybody a fair deal. Character is a sort of all-inclusive thing. If a man has character, everyone has confidence in him."
Brave Omar Bradley Quotes
Omar Bradley joined combat after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1943, where he led the American II Corps against North Africa's Axis Force. His campaign was successful, and he was promoted to lieutenant general and senior commander of the Normandy campaign in 1944. Here are some of the brave political quotes and sayings from Omar Bradley.
"Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death."
"Only one military organization can hold and gain ground in war-a ground army supported by tactical aviation with supply lines guarded by the navy."
"The greatest leader in the world could never win a campaign unless he understood the men he had to lead."
"War: A wretched debasement of all the pretenses of civilization."
"With the monstrous weapons man already has, humanity is in danger of being trapped in this world by its moral adolescents."
"In a completely integrated unit where you'd have white soldiers, particularly from southern states, serving under black noncommissioned officers... I think you would have a problem definitely."
"The nation needs men who think in terms of service to their country and not in terms of their country's debt to them."
"Every member of our baseball team at West Point became a general: this proves the value of team sports."
"In war, there is no second prize for the runner-up."
"The world has achieved brilliance without conscience."
"Airpower has become predominant, both as a deterrent to war, and in the eventuality of war-as the devastating force to destroy an enemy's potential and fatally undermine his will to wage war."
"We've learned how to destroy, but not to create; how to waste, but not to build... how to die, but seldom how to live."
"Peace is our goal, but preparedness is the price we must pay."
"Freedom-no word was ever spoken that has held out greater hope, demanded greater sacrifice, needed more to be nurtured, blessed more the giver... or came closer to being God's will on earth."
