I suppose that I had blithely assumed that generals were people who charged around and "did" things; that they were men of action, men of the moment. But one of the things that Van Riper taught me was that being able to
act intelligently and instinctively in the moment is possible only after a long and rigorous course of
education and
experience.
- Malcolm Gladwell, Blink, 2005.
This is a must read.