Wisdom in fragments

It was not a psychological operation. It was good communication. And of course, so many of these things come back to good communication.

People should recognise, before they enter a conflict, that there has to be an end state. There has to be, first of all, an exit plan, which will depend on what your aims are in the first place. Because if you have not got any aims, it is difficult to see how to come out of it.

Soldiers do not like killing. Yes, of course we are trained to do it effectively and properly and professionally if necessary - but far better to win and defend our country in a better way.

I always say it was the cruellest war I have ever been involved in.

Killing the enemy is half as effective as recruiting him.

Geography has a big effect on long-term, large-area history, whereas leaders have a big effect on short-term, small-area history.

The intrinsic disadvantage of a dictatorship is that a dictator does not get feedback, and so there is not a chance to make corrections.

He was born at the right time. He was born at the right place. If he had been born 20 years earlier and 200 miles to the south, nobody would ever have known about Genghis Khan.

Bill Gates was a very successful leader, but he doesn't pass the Hamlet Test.

Life is complicated, and usually the single most important thing is to avoid looking for the single most important thing.

Nobody is winning in this situation. Humanity is not winning. We are all losing from it.

It's not a nine-to-five job. It's a lifestyle more than a career — and by lifestyle, I don't mean a pink gin-sipping lifestyle. It's a commitment to public service.

It is a feeling of intense loneliness, isolation and helplessness that can only be resolved by negative habits which you believe will take away the pain, but which don't.

We can't make people feel better. What we can do is ensure that, through our kindness and our practical help, we don't make the situation a great deal worse for them.

You can never fail in a crisis if you just act now — if you just do it, and think about the cost later.

The system incentivised the promotion of individuals who could read the room — or the Hippodrome.