general douglas macarthur duty honor country

The Military Academy has taught me many things, some of them not within the covers of books or written by any man. High honors have come my way, but I shall always believe that my greatest honor was being a West Point graduate. Intellect is a man's only hope for improvement over his present state. Sentimentalism has muddled many problems, has settled none. They have chosen to risk death rather than slavery. The magnificence of the courage and fortitude of the Korean people defies description. We must go forward to preserve in peace what we won in war. We have known the bitterness of defeat and the exultation of triumph, and from both we have learned there can be no turning back. In war there is no substitute for victory. War's very object is victory, not prolonged indecision. I have long advocated its complete abolition, as its very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes … But once war is forced upon us, there is no other alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end. I know war as few other men now living know it, and nothing to me is more revolting. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. ' Duty, Honor, Country' - those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. 1.3.1 Farewell address to Congress (1951).

General douglas macarthur duty honor country