Chester W. Nimitz Quotes
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The Japanese had, in fact, already sued for peace before the atomic age was announced to the world with the destruction of Hiroshima and before the Russian entry into war. ... The atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military standpoint, in the defeat of Japan.
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A ship is always referred to as 'she' because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder.
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God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless.
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Uncommon valor was a common virtue.
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The U.S.'s major strength factor and weapon is its economy. If you cripple it, you cripple the military.
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Our present control of the sea is so absolute that it is sometimes taken for granted.
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Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best.
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It is the function of the Navy to carry the war to the enemy so that it is not fought on U.S. soil.
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Is the proposed operation likely to succeed? What might the consequences of failure? Is it in the realm of practicability in terms of material and supplies?
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Sir Walter Raleigh declared in the early 17th century that 'whoever commands the sea, commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself.' This principle is as true today as when uttered, and its effect will continue as long as ships traverse the seas.
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We shall never forget that it was our submarines that held the lines against the enemy while our fleets replaced losses and repaired wounds.
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The enemy of our games was always Japan, and the courses were so thorough that after the start of World War II, nothing that happened in the Pacific was strange or unexpected.
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That is not to say that we can relax our readiness to defend ourselves. Our armament must be adequate to the needs, but our faith is not primarily in these machines of defense but in ourselves.
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The war with Japan had been enacted in the game rooms at the War College by so many people and in so many different ways that nothing that happened during the war was a surprise-absolutely nothing except the kamikaze tactics toward the end of the war. We had not visualized these.
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Hindsight is notably cleverer than foresight.
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I felt that it was an unnecessary loss of civilian life... We had them beaten. They hadn't enough food, they couldn't do anything.
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Some of the best advice I've had comes from junior officers and enlisted men.