Quotation by

Theodore Roosevelt

If there is not the war, you don't get the great general if there is not a great occasion, you don't get a great statesman if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name.
War

Advertisement

Understanding this quote AI Analysis

Theodore Roosevelt is saying that extraordinary leaders often emerge because of difficult and challenging situations like war or crisis. Without such significant events, people like great generals or statesmen would not have the opportunity to show their abilities or become well-known.

More by this author

All quotes by Theodore Roosevelt →

More quotes about War

See all →
He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.
One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.

Advertisement

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hill…