James G. Stavridis Quotes

“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.”

— James G. Stavridis

You can't kill your way to success in a counter insurgency effort. You have to protect the people, get the civil military balance right, train the locals, and practice effective strategic communications.

— James G. Stavridis

“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.”

— James G. Stavridis

“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.”

— James G. Stavridis

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

— James G. Stavridis

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

— James G. Stavridis

“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.”

— James G. Stavridis

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

— James G. Stavridis

“Some have called Afghanistan 'the graveyard of empires,' and it probably is the graveyard of empires.”

— James G. Stavridis

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

— James G. Stavridis

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.

— James G. Stavridis

“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.”

— James G. Stavridis

“I am a huge consumer of social networks, and I utilize Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I'm interested and am learning more about Tumblr and other visually dominant sites.”

— James G. Stavridis

“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.”

— James G. Stavridis

“It's probably worth noting that although I'm ethnically Greek, my grandfather was actually born in Turkey and came through Greece on his way to the United States.”

— James G. Stavridis

“Walls don't work ... Instead of building walls to create security, we need to build bridges.”

— James G. Stavridis

“None of the threats to the global commons will be solved by building walls.”

— James G. Stavridis

“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.”

— James G. Stavridis