...the Reserve Components offer the nation a large measure of deterrence and warfighting power per dollar invested.
from FM 25-100: Training the Force
The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.
Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), U.S. Republican politician, president. Speech, 27 July 1920, Northampton, Massachusetts, accepting the Republican vice-presidential nomination.
The American soldier is a proud one and he demands professional competence in his leaders. In battle, he wants to know that the job is going to be done right, with no unnecessary casualties. The noncommissioned officer wearing the chevron is supposed to be the best soldier in the platoon, and he is supposed to know how to perform all the duties expected of him. The American soldier expects his sergeant to be able to teach him how to do his job. And he expects even more from his officers.
General Omar N. Bradley (1893-1981) Commander, 12th U.S. Army Group, World War II
On becoming soldiers we have not ceased to be citizens.
Address, "Humble Representation," 1647, to the English Parliament by Oliver Cromwell's soldiers.
An army without culture is a dull-witted army, and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.
Mao Zedong (1893-1976), Founder of the People's Republic of China. "The United Front in Cultural Work" (30 Oct. 1944; published in Selected Works, vol. 3).
Let him who desires peace prepare for war.
Vegetius (4th century), Roman military strategist.
My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack.
Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929), French general. Message allegedly sent to General Joffre during Battle of the Marne, 8 Sept. 1914. Quoted in: B. H. Liddell Hart, Reputations, "Ferdinand Foch" (1928). This was in all likelihood apocryphal, originating in Foch's repeated refrain to his troops, Attaquez! According to Liddell Hart, his insistence decimated the companies under his command, and the eventual German withdrawal astonished the exhausted French troops. Other variations of the message include, "Ma droite est enfoncée, ma gauche cède-tout va bien-j'attaque!" ("My right gives way, my left yields, everything's fine - I shall attack!").
God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.
Voltaire (1694-1778), French philosopher, author. Notebooks, vol. 2, "The Piccini Notebooks"
Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman. Essays, "Of Studies" (1597-1625).
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition.
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were nothere,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English dramatist, poet. King Henry, in King Henry V, act 4, sc. 3.
I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they terrify me.
Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), English soldier, prime minister. Dispatch, Aug. 1810, speaking of his generals - though commonly thought to refer to the rank-and-file soldiers. A similar remark is attributed to English prime minister Lord North, 1776-77.
When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.
George Washington (1732-99), U.S. general, president. Address, 26 June 1775, to the New York legislature.
The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.
Sun Tzu (6-5th Century B.C.), Chinese general. The Art of War, ch. 5, axiom 13 (c. 490 B.C.; ed. by James Clavell, 1981).
I would rather...have a nod from an American, than a snuff-box from an emperor.
Lord Byron (1788-1824), English poet. Letter, 8 June 1822, to poet Thomas Moore (published in Byron's Letters and Journals, vol. 9, ed. by Leslie A. Marchand, 1979).
Follow me if I advance! Kill me if I retreat! Revenge me if I die!
Ngo Dinh Diem (d. 1963), Vietnamese politician. Reported in Time (New York, 8 Nov. 1963), on becoming President of Vietnam, 1954.
The secret of a leader lies in the tests he has faced over the whole course of his life and the habit of action he develops in meeting those tests.
Gail Sheehy (b. 1937), U.S. journalist, author.
The bond between a man and his profession is similar to that which ties him to his country; it is just as complex, often ambivalent, and in general it is understood completely only when it is broken: by exile or emigration in the case of one's country, by retirement in the case of a trade or profession.
Primo Levi (1919-87), Italian chemist, author. Other People's Trades, "Ex-Chemist" (1985; tr. 1989).
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 (1753-1823), French revolutionary, military strategist. First Order of the Day, 2 Feb. 1794, to army commanders.
What makes a regiment of soldiers a more noble object of view than the same mass of mob? Their arms, their dresses, their banners, and the art and artificial symmetry of their position and movements.
Lord Byron (1788-1824), English poet. Letter, 7 Feb. 1821, to publisher John Murray.
Soldiers have many faults, but they have one redeeming merit; they are never worshippers of force. Soldiers more than any other men are taught severely and systematically that might is not right. The fact is obvious. The might is in the hundred men who obey. The right (or what is held to be right) is in the one man who commands them.
G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), British author. All Things Considered, "Thoughts Around Koepenick" (1908).
If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself.... If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience.
Mao Zedong (1893-1976), Founder of the People's Republic of China. Speech, July 1937, Yenan, China.
The most persistent sound which reverberates through man's history is the beating of war drums.
Arthur Koestler (1905-83), Hungarian-born British novelist, essayist.
There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian political philosopher, statesman.
I had rather have a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call a Gentle-man and is nothing else.
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), Parliamentarian general, Lord Protector of England. Letter, Sept. 1643. Quoted in: Thomas Carlyle, Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell (1845).
War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over
William Tecumseh Sherman
Freedom isn't free.
Anonymous
Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
Winston Churchill
If it moves, salute it; if it doesn't move, pick it up; and if you can't pick it up, paint it.
Anonymous (1940's saying)
The 'eathen in 'is blindness must end where 'e began. But the backbone of the Army is the non-commissioned man!
Rudyard Kipling
Soldiers are men...most apt for all manner of services and best able to support and endure the infinite toils and continual hazards of war.
Henry Knyvett
A soldier is he whose blood makes the glory of the general.
Adapted from Henry G. Bohn
Army: A body of men assembled to rectify the mistakes of the diplomats.
Josephus Daniels
Two armies are two bodies which meet and try to frighten each other.
Napoleon I
Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don't have that problem.
Ronald Reagan
A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living.
John F. Kennedy
A ship without Marines is like a garment without buttons.
Admiral David D. Porter, USN
The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
George Patton
Diplomats are just as essential in starting a war as soldiers are in finishing it.
Will Rogers
Be convinced that to be happy means to be free and that to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war.
Thucydides
Soldiers usually win the battles and generals get the credit for them.
Napoleon Bonaparte
We make war that we may live in peace.
Aristotle
In war there is no substitute for victory.
General Douglas MacArthur
Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war.
Ernest Miller Hemmingway
The number of medals on an officer's breast varies in inverse proportion to the square of the distance of his duties from the front line.
Charles Edward Montague
Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
Oscar Wilde
Being in the army is like being in the Boy Scouts, except that the Boy Scouts have adult supervision.
Blake Clark
Discipline is simply the art of making the soldiers fear their officers more than the enemy.
Helvetius
Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier.
Samuel Johnson
People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
George Orwell
Now I recall the Recon Marines ragged, filthy cammie shirted young men in green paint who move silent like the fog with deadly purpose in their eyes. Swift, Silent, Deadly. I smile.
GYSGT Correll, USMC, Retired Recon Marine
A man's greatest moment in life is when his enemy lays vanquished, his village aflame, his herds driven before you and his weeping wives and daughters are clasped to your breast.
Gengis Kahn, "Battle-E" winner
Nuts!
General Anthony McAuliffe, surrounded in Bastogne
You may earn salvation under my command, but hardly riches.
Gustavus II Adolphus , King of Sweden
Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to kill a fly with a sledge hammer.
Major Holdridge
When a decision is taken belatedly, its execution inevitably leads to haste.
Vasili Chuikov, Marshal of the Soviet Union
The art of using troops is this:
When ten to the enemy's one, surround him;
When five times his strength, attack him;
If double his strength, divide him;
If equally matched you may engage him;
If weaker numerically, be capable of withdrawing;
And if in all respects unequal, be capable of eluding him, for a small force is but booty for one more powerful.
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.
Winston Churchill
The best armor is staying out of gun-shot.
Italian Proverb
A good plan executed violently today is better than a perfect plan executed at some indefinite point in the future.
George Patton
I do not fear an army of lions, if they are led by a lamb. I do fear an army of sheep, if they are led by a lion.
Alexander the Great
Another such victory over the Romans, and we are undone.
Pyrrhus, King of Epirus
It is better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep.
Italian Proverb
Hard pounding, gentlemen. Let's see who pounds the longest.
A. Wellesley, Duke of Wellington