Roger

“During the war I was always impressed with the necessity of keeping an open mind and of being receptive to the ideas of others,” he said. “We study military history for the lessons it has to teach us, but we must not expect necessarily to obtain from history the correct answers to future problems. Situations rarely repeat themselves, and preconceived solutions, which result in fitting the situation to the solution and not the solution to the situation, are apt to be dangerous or costly. No one of us can be highly competent in all fields. It behooves us to recognize this fact and to take advantage of the superior knowledge and capabilities of others in their respective fields. Don’t insist upon making a lot of the decisions yourself which your subordinates can make better than you can.”
― Thomas B. Buell, The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance

“The role of the embassy and the Country Team became one of giving advice and encouragement to Magsaysay and the Nacionalistas.”
― Thomas B. Buell, The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance

“On one bizarre night the Japanese landed a transport plane on an American airfield, and 22 Japanese commandos galloped out and proceeded to destroy 7 parked aircraft and 70,000 gallons of aviation gasoline.”
― Thomas B. Buell, The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance

“In considering a nuclear war of the future, Spruance later wrote, “I am still opposed to the idea of war being conducted by mass destruction of civilian targets by long range missiles armed with nuclear warheads. I recognize that, if our enemy has them, we must be prepared to counter an attack and probably to retaliate in kind. I hope that the responsible governments of the world will be successful in their negotiations to prevent such a situation from ever coming to pass.”
― Thomas B. Buell, The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance