141 Quotes by Jim Mattis

Competence, caring, and conviction combine to form a fundamental element—shaping the fighting spirit of your troops. Leadership means reaching the souls of your troops, instilling a sense of commitment and purpose in the face of challenges so severe that they cannot be put into words.

The consequences of incompetence in battle are final.

State your flat-ass rules and stick to them. They shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. At the same time, leaven your professional passion with personal humility and compassion for your troops.

You cannot allow your passion for excellence to destroy your compassion for them as human beings.

By doing self-controlled acts, we come to be self-controlled, and by doing brave acts, we become brave.

Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.

What do I know? Who needs to know? Have I told them?

I’ll tell you what leadership is,” he said. “It’s persuasion and conciliation and education and patience. It’s long, slow, tough work. That’s the only kind of leadership I know.

They do identify a large increase in civilian ignorance or apathy about military issues and also in civilian deference to the military on conduct of the wars, which they consider may be connected to decline in trust of civilian leadership.