Isoroku Yamamoto Quotes

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

"Anyone who has seen the auto factories in Detroit and the oil fields in Texas knows that Japan lacks the national power for a naval race with America."

"In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success."

"People who don't gamble aren't worth talking to."

"Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it is not enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. We would have to march into Washington and sign the treaty in the White House."

"As long as tides of war are in our favor, the United States will never stop fighting. As a consequence, the war will continue for several years, during which materiel will be exhausted, vessels and arms will be damaged, and they can be replaced only with great difficulties."

"Never tell anyone outside my staff that the Submarine Force and the First Air Fleet were responsible for the failure at Midway. The failure at Midway was mine."

"A military man can scarcely pride himself on having smitten a sleeping enemy; it is more a matter of shame, simply, for the one smitten."

"To fight the United States is like fighting the whole world. But it has been decided. So I will fight the best I can."

"Even a burglar hesitates to go back for more."

"A man of real purpose puts his faith in himself always. Sometimes he refuses even to put his faith in the gods. So from time to time, he falls into error."

"I sincerely desire to be appointed Commander in Chief of the air fleet to attack Pearl Harbor so that I may personally command that attack force."

"It is like a disease to think that an invincible status has been achieved after being satisfied with the past successful operations."

"Unless more efforts based upon long-range planning are put into military preparations and operations, it will be very hard to win the final victory."

"Japan has always regarded the aircraft carrier as one of the most offensive of armaments."

"The example afforded before the Great War by Germany - which, if only it had exercised forbearance for another five or ten years, would by now be unrivaled in Europe - suggests that the task facing us now is to build up our strength calmly and with circumspection."

"If a war breaks out with the United States, the navy will have to put all its strength into interceptive operations, so... massive sea-borne supplies might be momentarily interrupted."

"I was once the captain of Akagi, and it is with heartfelt regret that I must now order that she be sunk."

"If we are to have a war with America, we will have no hope of winning unless the U.S. fleet in Hawaiian waters can be destroyed."

"I'm against war with the United States. But I am an officer of the Imperial Navy and a subject of His Majesty the Emperor."