Prieus says to Harper "What I have here is the stuff that dreams are made of." This is also how Humphrey Bogart describes the Maltese Falcon in the film of the same name.
"We had to destroy the village in order to save it." is a misquote of the quote "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it."; reported by Peter Arnett from an unnamed source after the battle for Ben Tre during the Vietnam War.
The title quote refers to accepting a short-term defeat to avoid a long-term defeat.