Commander Quotes

1. "A green X-wing closed in tighter to the formation. "Yes, sir." Though distorted by the comm system, the voice sounded indulgent rather than military."That's 'Yes, Wedge' until we're formally returned to duty." The commander smiled. "Or perhaps, 'Yes, Exalted One.' Or 'Yes, O envy of all Corellia.' Or-"
Author: Aaron Allston

2. "His name is Kettch, and he's an Ewok.""No.""Oh, yes. Determined to fight. You should hear him say, 'Yub, yub.' He makes it a battle cry.""Wes, assuming he could be educated up to Alliance fighter-pilot standards, an Ewok couldn't even reach an X-wing's controls.""He wears arm and leg extensions, prosthetics built for him by a sympathetic medical droid. And he's anxious to go, Commander.""Please tell me you're kidding.""Of course I'm kidding. Pilot-candidate number one is a Human female from Tatooine, Falynn Sandskimmer.""I'm going to get you, Janson.""Yub, yub, Commander."?Wes Janson and Wedge Antilles[src]"
Author: Aaron Allston

3. "There may be a hundred thousand men in an army, who are all equally free; but they only are naturally most fit to be commanders or leaders, who most excel in the virtues required for the right performance of those offices."
Author: Algernon Sidney

4. "The lesson of the Cuban Missile Crisis is plain: Strength prevents war; weakness invites it. We need a commander-in-chief who understands that - and who won't leave us facing a foe who thinks he doesn't."
Author: Arthur L. Herman

5. "Decisions! And a general, a commander in chief who has not got the quality of decision, then he is no good."
Author: Bernard Law Montgomery

6. "A silent challenge passed between the powerful men, to be interrupted by the Queen, who spoke but one word-the Cokyrian commander's name. He looked to her more quickly than I would have believed possible, and his demeaner changed along with his focus, becoming softer, more cooperative... Perhaps she had more influence than I thought."
Author: Cayla Kluver

7. "Santa was dead, to begin with. There was no doubt whatsoever about that. The after-action report was signed by the field commander, the director of operations, the secretary of the Office of Sidhe Affairs, and the chief battle-mage. Janus had signed it — and Janus's word could be counted upon for anything he chose to put his name to. Old Saint Nicholas, the Sidhe Lord of the Yuletide, was as dead as a door-nail.It didn't stick."
Author: Chris Lester

8. "Commander! Sir! Wake up!"Jack surfaced from sleep, wondering who the commander was and wishing he'd respond so he could go back to sleep - until he remembered that he was the commander."
Author: Cinda Williams Chima

9. "Loken took a step forward. ‘Commander,' he said, ‘I will own up to ignorance and embrace illumination, but I will not be laughed at."
Author: Dan Abnett

10. "Most commanders wanted as many good sources of information as possible. MacArthur was focused on limiting and controlling his sources of intelligence."
Author: David Halberstam

11. "Liberace was certainly master and commander of the ivories ~ he is the only pianist I can watch or listen to without suffering a case of 'Stagefright Sympathy Sickness'."
Author: E.A. Bucchianeri

12. "As our patient beasts plodded across the sand, I allowed Emerson to remain a few feet ahead, a position he much enjoys and seldom obtains. I could see by the arrogant set of his shoulders that he fancied himself in the role of gallant commander, leading his troops; and I saw no reason to point out that no man can possibly look impressive on donkey-back, particularly when his legs are so long he must hold them out at a forty-five degree angle to keep his feet from dragging on the ground."
Author: Elizabeth Peters

13. "Vinyaya was being openly antagonistic, and that was an emotion that could be trusted, unless of course it was a bluff and the commander was a secret fan of his, unless it was a double bluff and she really did feel antagonistic."
Author: Eoin Colfer

14. "Shut up, Julius! I mean, quiet a moment, Commander."
Author: Eoin Colfer

15. "He was a Lannister of Casterly Rock, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard; no sellsword would make him scream.Sunlight ran silver along the edge of the arakh as it came shivering down, almost too fast to see. And Jaime screamed."
Author: George R.R. Martin

16. "The wide world is full of people wanting help, Jon. Would that some could find the courage to help themselves.- Lord Commander Mormont"
Author: George R.R. Martin

17. "He was a good man... No. He was a great man. A maester of the Citadel, chained and sworn, and Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch, ever faithful. When he was born they named him for a hero who had died too young, but though he lived a long long time, his own life was no less heroic. No man was wiser, or gentler, or kinder. At the Wall, a dozen lords commander came and went during his years of service, but he was always there to counsel them. He counseled kings as well. He could have been a king himself, but when they offered him the crown he told them they should give it to his younger brother. How many men would do that? He was the blood of the dragon, but now his fire has gone out. He was Aemon Targaryen. And now his watch is ended."
Author: George R.R. Martin

18. "Who in seven hells is this one?""The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard," Jaime returned with cold courtesy. "I might ask the same of you, my lady.""Lady? I'm no lady. I'm the queen.""My sister will be surprised to hear that.""Lord Ryman crowned me his very self." She gave a shake of her ample hips. "I'm the queen o' whores."No, Jaime thought, my sweet sister holds that title too."
Author: George R.R. Martin

19. "Thoren Smallwood, a sinewy ranger with a weak chin and a weaker mouth hidden under a thin scraggle of beard, gave Jon and Sam a cool look. He had been one of Alliser Thorne's henchmen, and had no love for either of them. "The Lord Commander's place is at Castle Black, lording and commanding," he told Mormont, ignoring the newcomers, "it seems to me." "If you are ever Lord Commander, you may do as you please," Mormont told the ranger, "but it seems to me that I have not died yet, nor have the brothers put you in my place."
Author: George R.R. Martin

20. "What marvelous things happen when men and women walk with faith in obedience to that which is required of them! I recall reading the story of Commander William Robert Anderson, the naval officer who took the submarine Nautilus beneath the polar ice from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, a daring and dangerous feat. It recounted a number of other exploits of similar danger and concluded with a statement that the commander carried in his wallet a tattered card that had on it these words: "I believe God will always make a way where there is no way." I too believe that God will always make a way where there is no way. I believe that if we will walk in obedience to the commandments of God, if we will follow the counsel of the priesthood, he will open a way even where there appears to be no way."
Author: Gordon B. Hinckley

21. "When you are a soldier you do not always realize there is anything beyond the will of your commander, the will of your king. But when you're on the field of battle, when the swords clash and the colors fly above you in all their glory, there comes a time when you wonder: Why am I here? All the brilliance fades, the glory becomes meaningless; the blood spilled and comrades dead, all for nothing when you have no cause to fight for."
Author: Hazel B. West

22. "As Commander in Chief of the United States Military, I will never send our sons and daughters and our brothers and sisters to die in a foreign land without telling the truth about why they're going there."
Author: Howard Dean

23. "Kevyn, Ennesby tells me you are building a time machine.Actually I'm finished.In one afternoon? Wow... Does it work?After a fashion....I put a whole lot of energy into it, and the next thing I knew it was time for dinner.-Captain Tagon & Commander Andreyasn"
Author: Howard Tayler

24. "Two minutes worth of signal analysis told me all I needed to know. This station "talks" to the dark matter universe about what goes on inside.How did you cobble together a jammer so quickly?I had one on me.-Commander Andreyasn & Ennesby"
Author: Howard Tayler

25. "In the World War nothing was more dreadful to witness than a chain of men starting with a battalion commander and ending with an army commander sitting in telephone boxes, improvised or actual, talking, talking, talking, in place of leading, leading, leading."
Author: J. F. C. Fuller

26. "Egotism is not a good quality. It's not something to be admired or even tolerated. It wouldn't be tolerated in a field commander and it shouldn't be tolerated in a movie director."
Author: John Milius

27. "As the ancient commander addressed his soldiers before battle, so should the moralist speak to men in the struggle of the era."
Author: Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

28. "As the Senator from Vermont was kind enough to note, I did have the experience of being commander in chief of our National Guard in Missouri for 8 years."
Author: Kit Bond

29. "Both Kennedy and Obama exuded a dash of glamour in their roles as commander-in-chief and became the darlings of Hollywood. As president, each brought to the White House a fashionable and accomplished First Lady, two adorable young children and scene-stealing pets."
Author: Kitty Kelley

30. "Fire supposed he needed to be there in order to give rousing speeches and lead the charge into the fray, or whatever is was commanders did in wartime. She resented his competence at something so tragic and senseless. She wished he, or somebody, would throw down his sword and say, 'Enough! This is a silly way to decide who's in charge!' And it seemed to her, as the beds in the healing room filled and emptied and filled, that these battles didn't leave much to be in charge of. The kingdom was already broken, and this war was tearing the broken pieces smaller."
Author: Kristin Cashore

31. "Why did I follow her? If you must know, Sir, it was easy. Pound for pound, Puss-in-Boots was the best commander I ever served under."
Author: L.A. Meyer

32. "The Hungarian ministry begged the king earnestly to issue orders to all troops and commanders of fortresses in Hungary, enjoining fidelity to the Constitution, and obedience to the ministers of Hungary."
Author: Lajos Kossuth

33. "Pantera, as always, was awake. He sat near the window, fletching the last of his arrows by a thin, grey light that bled in past the shutters.Pantera the Leopard, trader and friend of traders; Pantera the Roman spy who claimed to have come from the emperor himself, and had letters enough to persuade a legionary commander in Oescusto give him two men; Pantera, who had picked me from four thousand others because, alone of my century, possibly of my cohort, perhaps of my legion, I could read and write Latin as well as Greek.Out of habit, I cursed my mother's father, who had paid for the tutor, believing that all his grandsons should be literate. For good measure, I cursed my father, and my father's father and all the way back up the line to the misbegotten son of a she-ass who had sold the great Bucephalos to Alexander and thus guaranteed that his descendants would be horse-traders for ever more."
Author: M.C. Scott

34. "Our sisters and brothers were picked up in public by local commanders for the purpose of sex and luxury and we could do nothing."
Author: M.F. Moonzajer

35. "I wait, for the household to assemble. Household: that is what we are. The Commander is the head of the household. The house is what he holds. To have and to hold, till death do us part.The hold of a ship. Hollow."
Author: Margaret Atwood

36. "They actually think I would abandon the Commander. they have no concept of loyalty."
Author: Maria V. Snyder

37. "To the rocket scientist, you are a problem. You are the most irritating piece of machinery he or she will ever have to deal with. You and your fluctuating metabolism, your puny memory, your frame that comes in a million different configurations. You are unpredictable. You're inconstant. You take weeks to fix. The engineer must worry about the water and oxygen and food you'll need in space, about how much extra fuel it will take to launch your shrimp cocktail and irradiated beef tacos. A solar cell or a thruster nozzle is stable and undemanding. It does not excrete or panic or fall in love with the mission commander. It has no ego. Its structural elements don't start to break down without gravity, and it works just fine without sleep.To me, you are the best thing to happen to rocket science. The human being is the machine that makes the whole endeavor so endlessly intriguing."
Author: Mary Roach

38. "Maezr smiled. "A hundred years ago, Ender, we found out some things. That when a commander's life is in danger he becomes afraid, and fear slows down his thinking. When a commander knows that he's killing people, he becomes cautious or insane, and neither of those help him do well. And when he's mature, when he has responsibilities and an understanding of the world, he becomes cautious and sluggish and can't do his job. So we trained children, who didn't know anything but the game, and never knew when it would become real. That was the theory, and you proved that the theory worked."
Author: Orson Scott Card

39. "Ender, for the past few months you have been the battle commander of our fleets. This was the Third Invasion. There were no games, the battles were real, and the only enemy you fought was the buggers."
Author: Orson Scott Card

40. "I thought commanders could order anything.""They can order the moon to turn blue, too, but it doesn't happen. Listen, Ender, commanders have justas much authority as you let them have. The more you obey them, the more power they have over you." - Dink Meeker"
Author: Orson Scott Card

41. "I know, you've been here a year, you think these people are normal. Well, they're not. WE'RE not. I look in the library, I call up books on my desk. Old ones, because they won't let us have anything new, but I've got a pretty good idea what children are, and we're not children. Children can lose sometimes, and nobody cares. Children aren't in armies, they aren't COMMANDERS, they don't rule over forty other kids, it's more than anybody can take and not get crazy."
Author: Orson Scott Card

42. "If I have a bow and arrow, Commander, I don't shoot a padded shaft to my target's left in order to express my annoyance. I fire a steel-tipped arrow into his leg."
Author: Peter David

43. "Lord-commander, I won't pretend to love her the way you do. But I do owe her my life and my honour. I am Joyan now. And we are, all of us, filthy liars."
Author: Rae Carson

44. "No operational commander should have to assign a soldier a task that could be done as well by a computer, a remote sensor, or an unmanned airplane."
Author: Richard Perle

45. "The spring of 1942 was given over to a very impassioned, strategic debate about where we should first attack in counterpunching against the Germans and Italians. The British argued very persuasively on the part of Winston Churchill, prime minister, that this was a very green American Army, green soldiers, green commanders."
Author: Rick Atkinson

46. "Hence a commander who advances without any thought of winning personal fame and withdraws in spite of certain punishment, whose only concern is to protect his people and promote the interests of his ruler, is the nation's treasure. Because he fusses over his men as if they were infants, they will accompany him into the deepest valleys; because he fusses over his men as if they were his own beloved sons, they will die by his side. If he is generous with them and yet they do not do as he tells them, if he loves them and yet they do not obey his commands, if he is so undisciplined with them that he cannot bring them into proper order, they will be like spoiled children who can be put to no good use at all."
Author: Sun Tzu

47. "These are: (1) the Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) the Commander; (5) method and discipline."
Author: Sun Tzu

48. "But it must've happened!" snapped Vimes. "I told you, I can remember it! I was there yesterday!" "Nice try, but that doesn't mean anything anymore," said the monk. "Trust me. Yes, it's happened to you, but even though it has, it might not. 'Cos of quantum. Right now, there isn't a Commander Vimes–shaped hole in the future to drop you into. It's officially Uncertain. But might not be, if you do it right. You owe it to yourself, Commander. Right now, out there, Sam Vimes is learning to be a very bad copper indeed. And he learns fast."
Author: Terry Pratchett

49. "I tell you, commander, it's true that some of the most terrible things in the world are done by people who think, genuinely think, that they're doing it for the best, especially if there is some god involved."
Author: Terry Pratchett

50. "Two commanders on the same field are always one too many."
Author: Ulysses S. Grant

Commander Quotes Pictures