Military Quotes

Rogues, would you live forever?

Frederick the Great

The consensus seemed to be that if really large numbers of men were sent to storm the mountain, then enough might survive the rocks to take the citadel. This is essentially the basis of all military thinking.

Terry Pratchett

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

George Orwell

That's what an army is -- a mob; they don't fight with courage that's born in them, but with courage that's borrowed from their mass, and from their officers.

Mark Twain

Soldiers can sometimes make decisions that are smarter than the orders they've been given.

Orson Scott Card

The General Order is always to maneuver in a body and on the attack; to maintain strict but not pettifogging discipline; to keep the troops constantly at the ready; to employ the utmost vigilance on sentry go; to use the bayonet on every possible occasion; and to follow up the enemy remorselessly until he is utterly destroyed.

Lazare Carnot

The wonder is always new that any sane man can be a sailor.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I am convinced that the best service a retired general can perform is to turn in his tongue along with his suit, and to mothball his opinions.

Omar Bradley

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.

General George Patton

In enterprise of martial kind, when there was any fighting, he led his regiment from behind -- he found it less exciting.

W. S. Gilbert

In the weakness of one kind of authority, and in the fluctuation of all, the officers of an army will remain for some time mutinous and full of faction, until some popular general, who understands the art of conciliating the soldiery, and who possesses the true spirit of command, shall draw the eyes of all men upon himself. Armies will obey him on his personal account. There is no other way of securing military obedience in this state of things.

Edmund Burke

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.

Dwight D Eisenhower

There are few men more superstitious than soldiers. They are, after all, the men who live closest to death.

Mary Stewart

The Royal Navy of England hath ever been its greatest defense and ornament; it is its ancient and natural strength; the floating bulwark of the island.

William Blackstone

I rose by sheer military ability to the rank of corporal.

Thornton Wilder

Let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.

Dwight D Eisenhower

I will never joke about old soldiers who try to get to reunions to talk over the war again. To talk of old times with old friends is the greatest thing in the world.

Will Rogers

We know, Mr. Weller -- we, who are men of the world -- that a good uniform must work its way with the women, sooner or later.

Charles Dickens