Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
In war there is no prize for the runner-up.
Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.
The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.
They died hard, those savage men - like wounded wolves at bay. They were filthy, and they were lousy, and they stunk. And I loved them.
There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.
The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.
Death solves all problems - no man, no problem.
In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance.
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.
Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.
All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers.
I have never advocated war except as a means of peace.
Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.
Only the dead have seen the end of war.
Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
It is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it.
A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.
He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.
If we don't end war, war will end us.
From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity.
He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.
War is as much a punishment to the punisher as it is to the sufferer.
War would end if the dead could return.
When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.
Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.
It is a big step to take another human life. It is not to be done lightly.
Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.
If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves.
The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
Better to fight for something than live for nothing.
Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.
We happy few, we band of brothers/For he today that sheds his blood with me/Shall be my brother.
Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.
There are no atheists in foxholes, this isn't an argument against atheism, it's an argument against foxholes.
Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.
Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.
Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway.
Above all things, never be afraid. The enemy who forces you to retreat is himself afraid of you at that very moment.
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.
Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being.
He conquers who endures.
It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!
You know the real meaning of peace only if you have been through the war.
Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.
In war there is no substitute for victory.
War is a series of catastrophes which result in victory.
In war, truth is the first casualty.
Incoming fire has the right of way.
Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.
War does not determine who is right, only who is left.
A ship without Marines is like a garment without buttons.
The press is our chief ideological weapon.
Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you!
If the enemy is in range, so are you.
Cost of a single Javelin Missile: $80,000
Cost of a single Tomahawk Cruise Missile: $900,000
Cost of a single F-117A Nighthawk: $122 Million
Cost of a single F-22 Raptor: $135 Million
Cost of a single AC-130U Gunship: $190 Million
Cost of a single B-2 Bomber: $2.2 Billion
So long as there are men, there will be wars.
Aim towards the Enemy.
I think the human race needs to think about killing. How much evil must we do to do good?
Any military commander who is honest will admit he makes mistakes in the application of military power.
You can make a throne of bayonets, but you cant sit on it for long.
The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle!
Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.
Whoever stands by a just cause cannot possibly be called a terrorist.
Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.
War is delightful to those who have not yet experienced it.
Friendly fire, isn't.
Diplomats are just as essential in starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it.
I think that technologies are morally neutral until we apply them. It's only when we use them for good or for evil that they become good or evil.
All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.
The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise.
Freedom is not free, but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share.
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.
If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
If we can't persuade nations with comparable values of the merits of our cause, we'd better reexamine our reasoning.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter, and therefore, unsafe.
Five second fuses only last three seconds.
If your attack is going too well, you're walking into an ambush.
No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.
When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend.
A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.
A leader leads by example, not by force.
If you can't remember, the claymore is pointed toward you.
There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a secondhand opinion.
The more marines I have around, the better I like it.
Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.
Keep looking below surface appearances. Don't shrink from doing so just because you might not like what you find.
Try to look unimportant; they may be low on ammo.
The world will not accept dictatorship or domination.
Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.
Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just brave five minutes longer.
In the end, it was luck. We were *this* close to nuclear war, and luck prevented it.
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.
It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed.
We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us.
If at first you don't succeed, call an air strike.
Tracers work both ways.
Teamwork is essential, it gives them other people to shoot at.
The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war.
We're in a world in which the possibility of terrorism, married up with technology, could make us very, very sorry we didn't act.
All warfare is based on deception.
The indefinite combination of human infallibility and nuclear weapons will lead to the destruction of nations.
In war, you win or lose, live or die and the difference is just an eyelash.
You can't say civilization don't advance, for in every war, they kill you in a new way.
They'll be no learning period with nuclear weapons. Make one mistake and you're going to destroy nations.
It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.
Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still, there are things worth fighting for.
It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.
Let your plans be as dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.
Anyone, who truly wants to go to war, has truly never been there before!
Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.
Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brain.
My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.
Cluster bombing from B-52s are very, very, accurate. The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground.
If a man has done his best, what else is there?
The bursting radius of a hand-grenade is always one foot greater than your jumping range.
The tyrant always talks as if he's preserving the best interests of his people when he actually acts to undermine them.
Every tyrant who has lived has believed in freedom - for himself.
If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace.
Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.
I will fight for my country, but I will not lie for her.
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
Traditional nationalism cannot survive the fissioning of the atom. One world or none.
If you want a symbolic gesture, don't burn the flag; wash it.
The nation is divided, half patriots and half traitors, and no man can tell which from which.
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it.
If you're ashamed to stand by your colors, you had better seek another flag.
Revenge, at first though sweet, Bitter ere long back on itself recoils.
A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote...
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.
I love America more than any other country in this world; and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.
...dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.
Principle is OK up to a certain point, but principle doesn't do any good if you lose.
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
Before you embark on a journey of revenge, you should first dig two graves.
It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
Revenge is profitable.
Patriotism ruins history.
I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started.
I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.
Live well. It is the greatest revenge.
We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.
I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American!
Patriotism varies, from a noble devotion to a moral lunacy.
It is easy to take liberty for granted when you have never had it taken from you.
A man's feet must be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world.
One good act of vengeance deserves another.
You cannot get ahead while you are getting even.
A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.
Patriotism is an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles.
Soldiers usually win the battles and generals get the credit for them
War is fear cloaked in courage.
In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons.
Don't get mad, get even.
A man who would not risk his life for something does not deserve to live.