Marines Quotes

“The soldier is the Army. No army is better than its soldiers. The Soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem.”
― Ronald Reagan

“...It is a proud privilege to be a soldier – a good soldier … [with] discipline, self-respect, pride in his unit and his country, a high sense of duty and obligation to comrades and to his superiors, and a self confidence born of demonstrated ability.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“The Japanese fought to win - it was a savage, brutal, inhumane, exhausting and dirty business. Our commanders knew that if we were to win and survive, we must be trained realistically for it whether we liked it or not. In the post-war years, the U.S. Marine Corps came in for a great deal of undeserved criticism in my opinion, from well-meaning persons who did not comprehend the magnitude of stress and horror that combat can be. The technology that developed the rifle barrel, the machine gun and high explosive shells has turned war into prolonged, subhuman slaughter. Men must be trained realistically if they are to survive it without breaking, mentally and physically.”
― E.B. Sledge, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

“If I charge, follow me. If I retreat, kill me. If I die, revenge me.”
― USMC

“America's finest - our men and women in uniform, are a force for good throughout the world, and that is nothing to apologize for.”
― Sarah Palin

“In the simple moral maxim the Marine Corps teaches

— do the right thing, for the right reason

— no exception exists that says: unless there's criticism or risk. Damn the consequences.”
― Josh Rushing, Mission Al-Jazeera: Build a Bridge, Seek the Truth, Change the World

“Your soul may belong to Jesus, but your ass belongs to the marines.”
― Eugene B. Sledge, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

“As a civilian, I know nothing about combat, the Marine Corps experience or modern man's struggle adjusting to peace after war. I only know what's been shared with me; confidences I would never betray, nor use as details in a novel.”
― Tiffany Madison

“The enemy of a kind spirit is the pointlessness we face in the shadow of time. ”
― Daniel Cuervonegro, Sins of the Maker

“Hardness," I was learning, was the supreme virtue among recon Marines. The greatest compliment one could pay to another was to say he was hard. Hardness wasn't toughness, nor was it courage, although both were part of it. Hardness was the ability to face an overwhelming situation with aplomb, smile calmly at it, and then triumph through sheer professional pride.”
― Nathaniel Fick

“Your job is to be the hardest motherfucker in your platoon," he said while pointing at me across the desk. "Do that, and everything else will fall into place."
He added that I was assigned to Bravo Company, call sign Hitman, and wished me luck.”
― Nathaniel Fick

“Show me a hero and I'll show you a bum.”
― Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep

“A quick check on the platoon showed everyone more or less enjoying the flight.
"Whatever it is you're eating, Ressk, swallow it before we land," [said Staff Sergeant Kerr].
"No problem, Staff."
"More like whoever he's eating," Binti muttered beside him.
"You ought to count your fingers," he suggested. "You're too serley stupid to notice one missing."
"Maybe you ought to gren sa talamec to."
"That's enough, people."
When the Confederation first started integrating the di'Taykan and the Krai into what was predominantly a human military system, xenopsychologists among the elder races expected a number of problems. For the most part, those expectations fell short. After having dealt with the Mictok and the H'san, none of the younger races - all bipedal mammals - had any difficulty with each other's appearance. Cultural differences were absorbed into the prevailing military culture and the remaining problems were dealt with in the age-old military tradition of learning to say "up yours" in the other races' languages. The "us against them" mentality of war made for strange bedfellows.”
― Tanya Huff, Valor's Choice

“We carry the weight of our crimes and bear the wings of our kindness.”
― Daniel Cuervonegro, Sins of the Maker

“A soul is half its worth without a friend. That’s the embodiment of hope. Will you remember that, the two of you?”
― Daniel Cuervonegro, Sins of the Maker

“We had it drilled into us time and time again: 'If someone above you falls, grip tightly to the vertical rope and cradle that person in your arms until help can get to you.'...If someone fell down on me I swear I would have bitten him on the ass and would keep on biting until he got off onhis own.”
― C.S. Crawford, The Four Deuces: A Korean War Story

“This country has not seen and probably will never know the true level of sacrifice of our veterans. As a civilian I owe an unpayable debt to all our military. Going forward let’s not send our servicemen and women off to war or conflict zones unless it is overwhelmingly justifiable and on moral high ground. The men of WWII were the greatest generation, perhaps Korea the forgotten, Vietnam the trampled, Cold War unsung and Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan vets underestimated. Every generation has proved itself to be worthy to stand up to the precedent of the greatest generation. Going back to the Revolution American soldiers have been the best in the world. Let’s all take a remembrance for all veterans who served or are serving, peace time or wartime and gone or still with us. 11/11/16 May God Bless America and All Veterans.”
― Thomas M Smith

“Poor boys are easier than middle-class or rich ones. Boys who've been busted are easier than boys who have not. Southern boys are easier than Northern boys. Marines are easier than Masturbation.”
― John Valentine, Puppies

“There was nothing green left; artillery had denuded and scarred every inch of ground. Tiny flares glowed and disappeared. Shrapnel burst with bluish white puffs. Jets of flamethrowers flickered and here and there new explosions stirred up the rubble.
While I watched, an American observation plane droned over the Japanese lines, spotting targets for the U.S. warships lying offshore. Suddenly the little plane was hit by flak and disintegrated. The carnage below continued without pause.
Here I was safe, but tomorrow I would be there. In that instant I realized that the worst thing that could happen to me was about to happen to me.”
― William Manchester

“Welcome to the real Marine Corps, a bunch of nerds on computers all day. We only go to the gym so the grunts don't eat us.”
― Jess Mastorakos, A Match for the Marine

“The only person I wouldn't want to fight is myself." -Kai Gug”
― Kai Gug

“No matter
how hard you train them,
how deliberately you plan,
or how much support you send their way;
to lose Marines
is to watch as fires flicker out
beneath a torrent of rain.”
― Brendan Bigney, War, What Comes After

“To the men, families, and the lost of 1st Battalion, 5th Marines OIFII: You are the fabric of the red, white, and blue! You are in my heart forever.”
― Donnelly Wilkes, Code Red Fallujah: A Doctor's Memoir at War

“and we could be just like any other couple,
stumbling home from any other party.
But when you talk about wartime, what you tell me
is how many stars there were, and how
some boys flew a kite on the mountain.
What you don't talk about
is huddling with a group of soldiers in a bunker
while the rockets came over the walls, how
most of you by chance came out, but two did not.
They were Canadian, you said offhandedly,
when you'd been home for a while,
and you never said it again.”
― Victoria Kelly, Mrs. Houdini

“No matter
how hard you train them,
how deliberately you plan,
or how much support you send their way,
there is one constant that does not change;
to lose marines
is to watch as fires flick out
beneath a torrent of rain.”
― Brendan Bigney, War, What Comes After

“The most important thing is that you go to bed each night believing you raised a hero.”
― Elin Hilderbrand, Summer of '69

“I was confident that we could negotiate the rough coral, having done it several times before.
But not this time.
A coral head knocked off one of the tracks. There we were, helplessly immobilized some fifty to one hundred yards from dry land, unable to go one way or another, inaccessible by boat. My experience with previous track problems assured me that its repair would be at least a two-hour job. Admiral King, at his best, was not an easy-going man. When he understood the situation it took him only a moment to address a few plain words to me -- words not intended to contribute to my long-term peace of mind. Then, without hesitation, he clambered over the side -- starched white uniform and all -- followed by his aide, who was not happy either. They waded ashore to the accompaniment of the admiral's cursing, thumbed a ride to the dock two miles away, and finally made their way back to the Wyoming. Members of the staff told me later that the admiral was still enraged when he boarded the ship, making his feelings known to General Smith loudly and without restraint. The general, in a living disclaimer of his nickname, "Howling Mad," never reproved me.”
― Estate of V H. Krulak, First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps

“On the first run, two bombs landed within fifty yards of the target. We were shocked but still unbelieving. Someone else chose another target, and on this run the bombs made a direct hit! After three more runs, all with similar results, there was no doubt: all-weather bombing had arrived in the Marine Corps.
On that day, Dalby earned a chorus of supporters. The support was not, however, universal. In the audience was a brigadier general from Washington. After the demonstration, he examined the equipment and was repelled by its obvious tentative condition. He commented that it had no real combat application, that "rain would short out this maze of wires in nothing flat." I heard Dalby declare that he would "never let a general behind the scenes again until I have it packaged up like a box of candy.”
― Estate of V H. Krulak, First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps

“Plainly, by the turn of the century, the Marines' combatant image was etched onto the imaginations of the American people. The recruiting posters told the story. In 1907, when Army posters said, "Join the Army and Learn a Trade," and Navy posters said, "Join the Navy and See the World," the Marine posters came to the point with disarming simplicity, "First to Fight.”
― Estate of V H. Krulak, First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps