"Yet every democratic government is reluctant to face the fact. Reservists and citizen-soldiers stand ready, in every free nation, to stand to the colors and die in holocaust, the big war. Reservists and citizen-soldiers remain utterly reluctant to stand and die in anything less. None want to serve on the far frontiers, or to maintain lonely, dangerous vigils on the periphery of Asia. There has been every indication that mass call-ups for cold war moves may result in mass disaffection."

“There had been many brave men in the ranks, but they were learning that bravery of itself has little to do with success in battle.”

“Collective security had a fine sound, but it was still little more than a word; it would still be the United States, and the United States alone, that held the far frontier. No one else had the will or the power.”

“Revolution and terror are synonymous; only with the passage of time does any revolution become respectable.”

“The problem is to see not what is desirable, or nice, or politically feasible, but what is necessary.”

“America is rich and fat and very, very noticeable in this world. It is a forlorn hope that we should be left alone.”

“If war is to have any meaning at all, its purpose must be to establish control over peoples and territories, and ultimately, this can be done only as Alexander the Great did it, on the ground.”