“Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it. The function of the mere critic is of very subordinate usefulness. It is the doer of deeds who actually counts in the battle for life, and not the man who looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought, without himself sharing the stress and the danger.” MenLooksActionFightingPoorDangerHe ManOughtBattleCriticismFunctionStressMereCriticsDeedsSubstitutesIndispensableUsefulnessSubordinatesDoers Author:Theodore Roosevelt
“There were several Battles between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians, in which the former (as they ought) usually won.” OughtBattleFormer Author:Jane Austen
“If you go back into military history, the person who's leading the troops ought to be in with the troops and not just standing on the backline sending them into battle.” IfsPersonsMilitaryOughtBattleStandingTroopsMilitary History Author:Richard Branson
“I would rather be the author of one original thought than conqueror of a hundred battles. Yet moral excellence is so much superior to intellectual, that I ought to esteem one virtue more valuable than a hundred original thoughts.” MoralVirtueOughtBattleIntellectualHundredOriginalsExcellenceValuableSuperiorsEsteemOriginalityConquerorOriginal ThoughtMoral Excellence Book:Aphorisms and Reflections: A Miscellany of Thought and Opinion Source: Aphorisms and Reflections: A Miscellany of Thought and Opinion
“[N]either in war nor yet at law ought any man to use every way of escaping death. For often in battle there is no doubt that if a man will throw away his arms, and fall on his knees before his pursuers, he may escape death; and in other dangers there are other ways of escaping death, if a man is willing to say and do anything. The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death.” IfsMenWayMayWarUseRunningLawFallDoubtDangerWillingArmsOughtBattleMy FriendsDifficultyFasterKneesNo DoubtAvoidingEscapingUnrighteousnessAvoiding Death Author:Socrates
“If we must not act save on a certainty, we ought not to act on religion, for it is not certain. But how many things we do on an uncertainty, sea voyages, battles!” IfsCertainJourneySeaOughtBattleCertaintyUncertaintyVoyagesSea Voyage Book:Thoughts, Letters and Minor Works Source: Thoughts, Letters and Minor Works
“They were adored by the Germans, who thought they were exactly what Englishmen ought to be. They made war look stylish and reasonable, and fun... They were dressed half for battle, half for tennis or croquet.” LooksMadeWarFunHalfOughtBattleTennisReasonableEnglishmenStylishCroquet Author:Kurt Vonnegut