Chester W. Nimitz Quotes

#1. We shall never forget that it was our submarines that held the lines against the enemy while our fleets replaced losses and repaired wounds.

Chester W. Nimitz

#2. 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?

Chester W. Nimitz

#3. Hindsight is notably cleverer than foresight.

Chester W. Nimitz

#4. 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.

Chester W. Nimitz

#5. By their victory, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the Fifth Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully. Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue.

Chester W. Nimitz

#6. I have just taken on a great responsibility. I will do my utmost to meet it.

Chester W. Nimitz

#7. We must not again underestimate the Japanese.

Chester W. Nimitz

#8. Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best.

Chester W. Nimitz

#9. The battle of Iwo Island has been won. The United States Marines by their individual and collective courage have conquered a base which is as necessary to us in our continuing forward movement toward final victory as it was vital to the enemy in staving off ultimate defeat.

Chester W. Nimitz

#10. It is the function of the Navy to carry the war to the enemy so that it is not fought on U.S. soil.

Chester W. Nimitz

#11. No other island received as much preliminary pounding as did Iwo Jima.

Chester W. Nimitz

#12. Through the skill and devotion to duty of their armed forces of all branches in the Midway area our citizens can now rejoice that a momentous victory is in the making.

Chester W. Nimitz

#13. Luck can be attributed to a well-conceived plan carried out by a well-trained and indoctrinated task group.

Chester W. Nimitz

#14. Some of the best advice I've had comes from junior officers and enlisted men.

Chester W. Nimitz

#15. THEY FOUGHT TOGETHER AS BROTHERS-IN-ARMS. THEY DIED TOGETHER AND NOW THEY SLEEP SIDE BY SIDE. TO THEM WE HAVE A SOLEMN OBLIGATION.

Chester W. Nimitz

#16. The U.S.'s major strength factor and weapon is its economy. If you cripple it, you cripple the military.

Chester W. Nimitz

#17. The Japanese had, in fact, already sued for peace. The atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military point of view, in the defeat of Japan.

Chester W. Nimitz

#18. When you're in command, command.

Chester W. Nimitz

#19. A ship is always referred to as 'she' because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder.

Chester W. Nimitz

#20. The best that science can devise and that naval organization can provide must be regarded only as an aid, and never as a substitute for good seamanship.

Chester W. Nimitz

#21. 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.

Chester W. Nimitz

#22. If you're not making waves, you're not under weigh.

Chester W. Nimitz

#23. Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.

Chester W. Nimitz

#24. 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.

Chester W. Nimitz

#25. Our present control of the sea is so absolute that it is sometimes taken for granted.

Chester W. Nimitz