To lead untrained people to war is to throw them away. Confucius, circa 551-478 B.C.

1. Learn from the mistakes of others. You’ll never live long enough to make them all yourself!Sign on a Marine Corps paraloft

2. To lead untrained people to war is to throw them away.Confucius, circa 551-478 B.C.

3. To be a successful commander, one must combine the qualities of leadership with a knowledge of his profession. Either without the other is notof much avail.Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, “Thesis on Command”U.S. Naval War College, 11 September 1926

4. If you’re smart you’ll learn from your mistakes. If you’re a genius you’ll learn from other people’s mistakes.Brazilian saying

5. If you find yourselfin a fair fight,you didn’t plan properly!(Maneuver Warfare adage)

6. Fools say that they learn from experience. I prefer to learn from other people’s experience.Otto von Bismarck, 1815-1898

7. The simplest solution is usually the right one!“Occam’s razor”

8. If I would have asked people what they wanted they would have saidfaster horses.Henry Ford

9. Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.Lily Tomlin

10. Now this is the law of the Jungle—as old and true as the sky;And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the law runneth forward and backFor the strength of the Pack is the Wolf and the strength of the Wolf is the pack!Rudyard Kipling, The Law of the Jungle

11. Never confuse movement with action!Ernest Hemingway

12. Tactics is not whether you go left or right. Tactics is why you go left or right.General Al Gray,Commandant of the Marine Corps

13. Whoever can surprise well must conquer.John Paul JonesNaval Commander American Revolutionary War1747-1792

14. The most formidable warriors are students of their profession.General Al Gray,Commandant of the Marine Corps

15. Take calculated risks. That is quite different than being rash.General George S. Patton1885-1945

16. Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.Sun Tzu, circa 500 B.C.

17. Victory favors neither the righteous nor the wicked; it favors the prepared.Unknown

18. Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.President John F. Kennedy

19. Denial as no survival value.Dr. Dave Grossman

20. Anonymity is the most useful tool of cowards.

21. Four SOF Rules • Humans are more important than hardware • Quality is better than quantity • Quality can not be mass produced • Competency can not be created after crises

22. Glory is a consequence.

23. Time is to decisions as gravity is to momentum; an omnipresent force that must be overcome to continue.

24. Good friends are the natural extension of one’s conscience.

25. If to please the people,we offer what we ourselves disapprove;how can we afterwardsdefend our work?George Washington

26. If to please the people,we offer what we ourselves disapprove;how can we afterwardsdefend our work?George Washington

27. You must be able to underwrite the honest mistakes of your subordinates if you wish to develop their initiative and experience.Lt. Gen. Bruce C. Clarke

28. You won’t rise to the occasion—you’ll default to your level of training!Barrett Tillman, The Sixth Battle

29. The first step in resolving a moral dilemma is to determine which options are self-serving.

30. Leadership is not a rank.

31. I weigh the man, not his title. ‘Tis not the king’s stampcan make the metal better.William Wycherley

32. Think thou that these magnificent, victorious Legionnaires became what they are through some arbitrary stroke of fortune?  Nay!  They do not sit around congratulating themselves in the wake of every victory. Nay!  They spend every moment refining and improving their craft.  Without apology, they pursue excellence.A Roman observer of Legionnaires

33. The mind is the first to quit.

34. An organization which discourages controversy, encourages mediocrity.

35. Never underestimate a person willing to die for a cause.

36. A warrior’s most formidable weapon is his mind.General A.M. Gray,Commandant of the Marine Corps

37. A perfect tactical plan is like a unicorn because anyone can tell you what one looks like, but no one has actually ever seen one.

38. When you don’t know what to do, do what you know!

39. Quality must be judged, not measured.

40. We can not pay people to do their best, nor can we order them to excel.

41. When no one is an expert anyone can be.

42. Who can surprise wellmust conquer.Admiral John Paul Jones10 February 1778(in a letter to Benjamin Franklin)

43. Time is everything; five minutes make the difference between victory and defeat.Admiral Lord Nelson, 1758-1805

44. Nothing is so important in war as an undivided command.Napoleon I, Maxims of War, 1831

45. You can either learn the lessons in the classroom or wait until the suspect teaches them to you on the streets!Commander Daryl Evans, LASDMay 15, 2005

46. Do that which is difficult,while it is easy.Sun Tzu

47. Learn o obey before you command.Solon of Athens, 638-559 B.C.

48. Only those who understand a rule should be allowed to break it!

49. Next time and never are not as far apart as people think.They are separatedonly by deception.

50. What “could have been” are lessons.Learn from them.What “might be” are goals. Focus on them.