Dwight D. Eisenhower, the commanding general of victorious European forces during World War II, became President from 1953-1961.
Known for easing Cold War tensions, he achieved a Korean truce and promoted “Modern Republicanism,” leaving the U.S. as the world’s strongest nation.
Born in Texas in 1890 and raised in Kansas, Eisenhower married Mamie Geneva Doud in 1916 after a stellar military and educational career.
His military achievements include commanding Allied Forces in North Africa and leading the D-Day invasion.
Post-war, he headed Columbia University and NATO before becoming President in 1952 with the catchy “I like Ike” campaign.
As President, he balanced domestic policies, desegregated schools and the military and focused on global peace.
He warned against prolonged military spending. Eisenhower passed away in 1969 after leaving a legacy of peace and unity.
I have handpicked the best quotes by Dwight D. Eisenhower in this article.
Best Dwight D. Eisenhower Quotes
If I didn’t have air supremacy, I wouldn’t be here. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Accomplishment will prove to be a journey, not a destination. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Public opinion wins wars. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
We the people, elect leaders not to rule but to serve. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Unless we progress, we regress. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The supreme quality for leadership is integrity. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Beware the military-industrial complex. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
God, I hate the Germans… ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The qualities of a great man are vision, integrity, courage, understanding, the power of articulation, and profundity of character. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
In order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
You have got to have something in which to believe. You have got to have leaders, organization, friendships, and contacts that help you to believe that, and help you to put out your best. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
We will accept nothing less than full Victory! ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Freedom from fear and injustice and oppression will be ours only in the measure that men who value such freedom are ready to sustain its possession – to defend it against every thrust from within or without. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Plans are useless, but planning is essential. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Famous Dwight D. Eisenhower Quotes
Most things which are urgent are not important, and most things which are important are not urgent. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
There’s no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
By mutual respect, understanding and with good will we can find acceptable solutions to any problems which exist or may arise between us. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Our real problem, then, is not our strength today; it is rather the vital necessity of action today to ensure our strength tomorrow. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Nothing is easy in war. Mistakes are always paid for in casualties and troops are quick to sense any blunder made by their commanders. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed – else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Teachers need our active support and encouragement. They are doing one of the most necessary and exacting jobs in the land. They are developing our most precious national resource: our children, our future citizens. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The spirit of man is more important than mere physical strength, and the spiritual fiber of a nation than its wealth. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Top Dwight D. Eisenhower Quotes
A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Democracy is essentially a political system that recognizes the equality of humans before the law. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The only way to win the next world war is to prevent it. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
For every obstacle there is a solution. Persistence is the key. The greatest mistake is giving up! ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Never question another man’s motive. His wisdom, yes, but not his motives. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Things are more like they are now than they ever were before. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
To be true to one’s own freedom is, in essence, to honor and respect the freedom of all others. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The only things worth counting on are people you can count on. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
You will not find it difficult to prove that battles, campaigns, and even wars have been won or lost primarily because of logistics. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Without a doubt, psychological warfare has proven its right to a place of dignity in our military arsenal. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
United in this determination and with unshakable faith in the cause for which we fight, we will, with God’s help, go forward to our greatest victory. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
No man is worth your tears, but once you find one that is, he won’t make you cry. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Popular Dwight D. Eisenhower Quotes
I come from the very heart of America. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The proudest thing I can claim is that I am from Abilene. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels – men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
If our founding fathers were alive today, they’d roll over in their graves. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The only way to win World War III is to prevent it. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Firmness in support of fundamentals, with flexibility in tactics and methods, is the key to any hope of progress in negotiation. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The sergeant is the Army. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The one quality that can be developed by studious reflection and practice is the leadership of men. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
War is a grim, cruel business, a business justified only as a means of sustaining the forces of good against those of evil. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Extremes to the right and to the left of any political dispute are always wrong. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
There are three stages of life: youth, maturity, and ‘My, you’re looking good!’ ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Great Dwight D. Eisenhower Quotes
Take your job seriously, but not yourself. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Art is a universal language and through it each nation makes its own unique contribution to the culture of mankind. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking… is freedom. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Morale is the greatest single factor in successful wars. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
When you are in any contest, you should work as if there were – to the very last minute – a chance to lose it. This is battle, this is politics, this is anything. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Wise Dwight D. Eisenhower Quotes
No battle was ever won according to plan, but no battle was ever won without one. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Only strength can cooperate. Weakness can only beg. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The history of free men is never really written by chance but by choice; their choice! ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Every battle is going to surprise you. No plan ever survives contact with the enemy. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Never waste a minute thinking about people you don’t like. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The final battle against intolerance is to be fought – not in the chambers of any legislature – but in the hearts of men. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The best morale exist when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear a lot of talk about it, it’s usually lousy. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Pessimism never won any battle. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
You do not lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Powerful Dwight D. Eisenhower Quotes
Before a battle, planning is everything. Once the fighting has begun, it’s worthless. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Every leader should have enough humility to accept, publicly, the responsibility for the mistakes of the subordinates he has himself selected and, likewise, to give them credit, publicly, for their triumphs. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
We succeed only as we identify in life, or in war, or in anything else, a single overriding objective, and make all other considerations bend to that one objective. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
This operation is not being planned with any alternatives. This operation is planned as a victory, and that’s the way it’s going to be. We’re going down there, and we’re throwing everything we have into it, and we’re going to make it a success. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
I’ll tell you what leadership is. It’s persuasion and conciliation, and education, and patience. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Always try to associate yourself with and learn as much as you can from those who know more than you do, who do better than you, who see more clearly than you. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
It is better to have one person working with you than three people working for you. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Politics is a profession; a serious, complicated and, in its true sense, a noble one. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.
So these were the 89 top Dwight D. Eisenhower quotes and sayings on integrity, leadership, ww2, planning, security and war.
If you like these quotes and sayings, then you can also read my other posts on Dietrich Bonhoeffer quotes and Douglas MacArthur quotes.
