Top 39 Michael Mullen Quotes
#1. If you listen closely to the voices of our veterans, you understand that yes, they all returned from war changed, but what never changed is this: They never forgot your generosity. They never forgot the power of opportunity. They never forgot the American dream.
Michael Mullen
#2. We are vulnerable in the military and in our governments, but I think we're most vulnerable to cyber attacks commercially. This challenge is going to significantly increase. It's not going to go away.
Michael Mullen
#4. As a Naval officer, I've been all over the world, and one of the foundational lessons I learned was that parents everywhere would like to raise their children to a higher standard of living in a peaceful environment. That's a universal goal for families.
Michael Mullen
#5. I think the central mission in Afghanistan right now is to protect the people, certainly, and that would be inclusive of everybody, and that in a, in an insurgency and a counterinsurgency, that's really the center of gravity.
Michael Mullen
#6. I am convinced that America's great sea of goodwill can be, in fact, a rising tide, a tide that could lift every veteran and every family of our wounded and fallen.
Michael Mullen
#7. Few things are more damaging to our democracy than a military officer who doesn't have the moral courage to stand up for what's right or the moral fiber to step aside when circumstances dictate.
Michael Mullen
#8. The mission - the overall mission is to dismantle and defeat and disrupt al-Qaeda. But we have to make sure there's not a safe haven that returns in Afghanistan.
Michael Mullen
#9. Let us all be men and women in full. Let us expect from ourselves more than we think we can give, more than we think we can do and more than we think we already know.
Michael Mullen
#10. Every Sailor has the potential to lead," said Mullen, "I don't care if it's a seaman recruit or someone higher ranking than myself. Where there's a will, there's a way.
Michael Mullen
#11. There isn't a fight that I'm in that I'm not asking the question, 'What could we have done to avoid this?' Or, 'What can we do to avoid this in the future in terms of the kinds of things that we see?'
Michael Mullen
#12. To the Cold War veterans here, know that your steadfast efforts preserved a delicate balance, and, because of you, the global war that many feared never came to pass. We are thankful for you, as we are for all the veterans here with us.
Michael Mullen
#13. I think that is a noble goal that all of us should seek, to end wars and prevent wars as much as possible.
Michael Mullen
#14. We think we're near energy independence - nothing could be further from the truth. We're in much better shape now, but the price of a barrel of oil is going to be controlled by the Middle East for the next 10, 20, 30 years for sure.
Michael Mullen
#15. I've been pretty clear about saying that I think that the No. 1 threat to our national security is our debt. And we've got to get our arms around that and head it in another - head it in the right direction - that we have to pay our fair share of this.
Michael Mullen
#17. I would like America to remember those who have served and those that we've lost and their families.
Michael Mullen
#18. Too often we just look at these glistening successes. Behind them in many, many cases is failure along the way, and that doesn't get put into the Wikipedia story or the bio. Yet those failures teach you every bit as much as the successes.
Michael Mullen
#19. I'm a Vietnam veteran. I was here when there was no public support, not just for the effort in Vietnam, for the mission in Vietnam, but for our men and women in uniform.
Michael Mullen
#21. In every war at some point in time, you do sit down and negotiate.
Michael Mullen
#23. The single biggest existential threat that's out there, I think, is cyber.
Michael Mullen
#24. From a very strategic level, I believe the military is part of the solution to better outcomes around the world, but at a higher level, it's really about economies.
Michael Mullen
#25. Our people sacrifice a lot for their country, including their lives. None of them should have to sacrifice their integrity as well.
Michael Mullen
#26. I'm not a policy and a strategy guy. I'm - you know, the military basically supports what the president wants, the decisions that he makes.
Michael Mullen
#27. The truth is, we live in deeds, not days; in actions and thoughts and feelings, not heartbeats.
Michael Mullen
#28. I'm very concerned about the nuclear weapons development for Iran and the destabilizing influence it has and they have in that part of the world. And I strongly endorse continued pressure, diplomatically, financially, economically.
Michael Mullen
#29. I have met parents all over the world, and they all just want to raise their kids to a higher standard than they were raised with.
Michael Mullen
#30. One of the reasons that I'm still in the military - or I stayed in the military - is because I think the military has been a place where certainly people could improve, advance, and were treated fairly.
Michael Mullen
#31. My job is simply to give advice, to be a counselor to our nation's leaders.
Michael Mullen
#32. When I go there to Afghanistan or Pakistan, the question both asked - and if it's not asked, implied - is, 'Are you staying this time?' because we left last time, in 1989 in Afghanistan, and we sanctioned Pakistan from 1990 to 2002. So I think it's a fair question.
Michael Mullen
#33. I'm blessed to be in a command position in a Navy this good
Michael Mullen
#34. We're at a real time of transition here in terms of future aviation. What's going to be manned? What's going to be unmanned? There are those who see [the JSF] as the last manned fighter/bomber. And I'm one that's inclined to believe it-whether it's right or not.
Michael Mullen
#35. Our training is world-class across all the services. We spend an awful lot on every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, Coast Guardsman that comes in, and we ask them to do an awful lot, sometimes more than we expect of ourselves, and they do that.
Michael Mullen
#36. Don't try to run your life through a single straw. Someone, some event, will cut it off.
Michael Mullen
#37. I think anybody in our - in the, in the national security apparatus has, has got to take full cognizance of their responsibility for the safeguarding of classified information.
Michael Mullen
#38. I've said for a long time, clearly the - a, a critical key to success in the region is going to be Pakistan and our relationship with Pakistan, which was one that was broken in the late '80s and which we've worked hard to restore.
Michael Mullen
#39. Right now we're on the President Obama plan, and we'll stay with that. And from my perspective, the reason we're there is to make sure that we can achieve the principal goal which is ensure that Afghanistan can never become a safe haven for a terrorist organization like al Qaeda.
Michael Mullen
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