Quotes from James G. Stavridis

Rested commanders are the best commanders.

As a 4-star admiral, I visited over a hundred U.S. embassies all around the world, and I never failed to see lines of locals seeking visas to our nation.

In the 21st century, we can't create security by building walls.

In the 20th century, we built a lot of walls - we endlessly tried to build walls between us and people we perceived, correctly or incorrect, as our enemies. In the 21st century, because of the advent of networks, the free movement of goods and people across the globe, we need to build security by building bridges instead of building walls.

I would not be surprised to see Syria break apart entirely.

Thinklogical's systems play a key role in the delivery and visualization of mission critical data used every day by military and intelligence communities worldwide.

It is an ambitious agenda, but the approach to Russia should be, 'Confront where we must, but cooperate where we can.'

Eighty-five percent cannot read when they enter the security forces of Afghanistan. Why? Because the Taliban withheld education during the period of time in which these men and women would have learned to read.

Controlling President Trump seems incredibly difficult.

Russian strategy seems to center on maintaining Putin's popularity at home; building a strong military capacity in special forces, nuclear weapons, and advanced submarines; pressuring nearby nations to join various defense and customs pacts dominated by Russia; and pushing back on the U.S. wherever convenient.

All of the military services - land, sea, and air - spend a great deal of time awake. This is a direct result of the high tempo of operations we conduct while forward deployed well outside our national borders.

Wikipedia, every day, is tens of thousands of people inputting information, and every day millions of people withdrawing that information. It's a perfect image for the fundamental point that no one of us is as smart as all of us thinking together.

When I get up, the first thing I do is open up Gmail and check my personal email.

I've never been in a 'Twitter fight,' though I've witnessed my fair share. I do enjoy vigorous and informed debate, but the benefit is lost when the exchange becomes a series of petty ad hominem attacks. I don't see much value in it.

What's the third largest nation in the world after China and India? It's the Facebook nation - 430 million people on Facebook.

During the early 1990s, Mexico's domestic political sensitivities meant that it rarely extradited people who had committed crimes in the U.S. After NAFTA, extradition numbers began to increase until they surpassed 100 a year in the late 2000s.

I knew early I wanted to follow my father into the military. He did a full 30-year career and retired as a full colonel in the Marines after graduating from Allentown H.S. and later from Cornell University.

In any insurgency there will be people who are irreconcilable and who pose a clear and present threat to the U.S. and our allies.

Life is not an on and off switch. You don't have to have a military that is either in hard combat or is in the barracks.

I don't think anyone would look at Colombia today and say that it is failing. This positive outcome is an example of the effective application of smart power - it is succeeding.

The most important thing I learned was the value of personal friendships and working cooperatively with your peers - the Academy has a saying, 'cooperate to graduate,' and that remains a very important central core in my thinking today.

Front-line officials, including DEA agents, border patrol and other homeland-security professionals, should remind Mr. Trump how important Mexico's assistance is in achieving his national-security goals.

I tend to gravitate toward reporters who cover all aspects of the story: from personal aspects to the big picture that answer the 'so what' of a story.

Getting enough sleep makes us better family members, friends, lovers, drivers, writers, cooks, and pretty much everything else that is of importance in our lives.