There was an episode that demonstrated this side of him that occurred when he was invited to the Gakushuin School Corporation (an educational institution mainly for children of the imperial family and nobility) in his later years and, during his lecture, he asked a student what he wanted to be in future, and then told the student who answered "a soldier" that soldiers would die on battlefields, so he recommended the student to enter the Imperial Japanese Navy as opposed to the Imperial Japanese Army because those in the Navy would not die, making the Principal of the Gakushuin School, Maresuke NOGI, who used to be the Army General, somewhat disappointed.
晩年学習院に招かれた際、講演中に生徒に「将来は何になりたいか」と質問し「軍人になりたい」と答えた生徒に「軍人になると死ぬぞ」「なるなら大日本帝国陸軍ではなく大日本帝国海軍に入れ。海軍ならしなないから」と発言し、陸軍大将であった乃木希典院長を憮然とさせたというエピソードがある。