Three from me

The one paraphrased in my sig:

Bill Shankly, legandary manager of Liverpool Football Club

"Some people say that football is a matter of life or death, but you have to realise it is more important than that"

The second is the mantra that I have wargamed and gamed with for many years. It comes from the Confederate general General Nathan Bedford Forrest:

"Get there firstest with the mostest"

Some people say that is a misquote and he really said "to git thar fust with the most men." - But I prefer the other - and we never want facts to get in the way of a good quotation. I have practised this simple rule in many walks of gaming from figures to PC and I do think it works.

Finally a master piece of irony - the last words of Major General John Sedgwick of the Union Army, also in the American Civil War:

"I'm ashamed of you, dodging that way. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."

Just seconds later he fell forward with a bullet hole below his left eye.

I will let Wiki tell the story:

"In a rather ironic turn of events, Sedgwick fell at the beginning of the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, on May 9, 1864. His corps was probing skirmish lines ahead of the left flank of Confederate defenses and he was directing artillery placements. Confederate sharpshooters were about 1,000 yards (910 m) away and their shots caused members of his staff and artillerymen to duck for cover. Sedgwick strode around in the open and was quoted as saying, "What? Men dodging this way for single bullets? What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Although ashamed, his men continued to flinch and he repeated, "I'm ashamed of you, dodging that way. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Just seconds later he fell forward with a bullet hole below his left eye.

Sedgwick was the highest ranking Union casualty in the Civil War. Although James B. McPherson was in command of an army at the time of his death and Sedgwick of a corps, Sedgwick had the most senior rank by date of all major generals killed. Upon hearing of his death, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant repeatedly asked, "Is he really dead?"