Robert McNamara quotes

Robert McNamara was an American business executive and government official, best known for serving as the U.S. Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War. His policies and leadership played a significant role in shaping U.S. military strategy and government decision-making in the 1960s. He later became president of the World Bank and was known for promoting international development. Here are 12 of his quotes:

Neither conscience nor sanity itself suggests, that the United States is, or should or could be the global gendarme.

Robert McNamara

Management is the gate through which social and economic and political change, indeed change in every direction, is diffused through society.

Robert McNamara

I must say I don't object to its being called McNamara's War. I think it is a very important war and I am pleased to be identified with it and do whatever I can to win it.

Robert McNamara

Never answer the question that is asked of you. Answer the question that you wish had been asked of you.

Robert McNamara

A computer does not substitute for judgment any more than a pencil substitutes for literacy. But writing without a pencil is no particular advantage.

Robert McNamara

I would rather have a wrong decision made than no decision at all.

Robert McNamara

Lesson #7: Belief and seeing are both often wrong. Lesson #8: Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning. Lesson #9: In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil. Lesson #10: Never say never. Lesson #11: You can't change human nature...

Robert McNamara

Coercion, after all, merely captures man. Freedom captivates him.

Robert McNamara

One cannot fashion a credible deterrent out of an incredible action.

Robert McNamara

Brains are like hearts - they go where they are appreciated.

Robert McNamara