I made all my generals out of mud.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Perfect soldier, perfect gentleman never gave offence to anyone not even the enemy.
—A. J. P. Taylor (1906–90) British Historian, Journalist, Broadcaster
Those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) Irish Poet, Dramatist
When they the American soldiers came, they found fit comrades for their courage and their devotion…. Joining hands with them, the men of America gave the greatest of all gifts – the gift of life and the gift of spirit.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
An army without culture is a dull-witted army, and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chinese Statesman
The wonder is always new that any sane man can be a sailor.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I think with the Romans, that the general of today should be a soldier tomorrow if necessary.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
The best generals I have known were… stupid or absent-minded men. Not only does a good army commander not need any special qualities, on the contrary he needs the absence of the highest and best human attributes—love, poetry, tenderness, and philosophic inquiring doubt. He should be limited, firmly convinced that what he is doing is very important (otherwise he will not have sufficient patience), and only then will he be a brave leader. God forbid that he should be humane, should love, or pity, or think of what is just and unjust.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
The soldier’s heart, the soldier’s spirit, the soldier’s soul, are everything. Unless the soldier’s soul sustains him he cannot be relied on and will fail himself and his commander and his country in the end.
—George Marshall (1880–1959) American Military Leader
He led his regiment from behind –
He found it less exciting.
But when away his regiment ran,
His place was at the fore, O.
—W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) English Dramatist, Librettist, Poet, Illustrator
O the joy of the strong-brawn’d fighter, towering in the arena in perfect condition, conscious of power, thirsting to meet his opponent.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Iconic clothing has been secularized. A guardsman in a dress uniform is ostensibly an icon of aggression; his coat is red as the blood he hopes to shed. Seen on a coat-hanger, with no man inside it, the uniform loses all its blustering significance and, to the innocent eye seduced by decorative color and tactile braid, it is as abstract in symbolic information as a parasol to an Eskimo. It becomes simply magnificent.
—Angela Carter (1940–92) English Novelist
No profession or occupation is more pleasing than the military; a profession or exercise both noble in execution (for the strongest, most generous and proudest of all virtues is true valor) and noble in its cause. No utility either more just or universal than the protection of the repose or defense of the greatness of one’s country. The company and daily conversation of so many noble, young and active men cannot but be well-pleasing to you.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Visit the Navy-Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make a man with its black arts—a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity, a man laid out alive and standing, and already, as one may say, buried under arms with funeral accompaniments.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Standing armies can never consist of resolute robust men; they may be well-disciplined machines, but they will seldom contain men under the influence of strong passions, or with very vigorous faculties.
—Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) English Writer, Feminist
The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
So, as you go into battle, remember your ancestors and remember your descendants.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
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 (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
The army is the true nobility of our country.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
I want to see you shoot the way you shout.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
Admiral. That part of a warship which does the talking while the figurehead does the thinking.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
I rose by sheer military ability to the rank of corporal.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
How red the rose that is the soldier
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) American Poet
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 (1723–80) English Judge, Jurist, Academic
Pressed into service means pressed out of shape.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
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 (1893–1981) American Military Leader
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be never so vile. This day shall gentle his condition. And gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Valor, glory, firmness, skill, generosity, steadiness in battle and ability to rule—these constitute the duty of a soldier. They flow from his own nature.
—The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy.
—Henry Kissinger (b.1923) American Diplomat, Academician
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 (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
Rogues, would you live forever?
—Frederick II of Prussia (1712–86) Prussian Monarch
Unselfishly, you left your fathers and your mothers,
You left behind your sisters and your brothers.
Leaving your beloved children and wives,
You put on hold, your dreams
—Anonymous
I could have become a soldier if I had waited; I knew more about retreating than the man who invented retreating.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
This death’s livery which walled its bearers from ordinary life was sign that they have sold their wills and bodies to the State: and contracted themselves into a service not the less abject for that its beginning was voluntary.
—T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935) British Soldier, Scholar, Writer
Making the world safe for hypocrisy.
—Thomas Wolfe (1900–38) American Novelist
I must have the gentleman to haul and draw with the mariner, and the mariner with the gentleman. I would know him, that would refuse to set his hand to a rope, but I know there is not any such here.
—Francis Drake (1540–96) English Military Leader, Politician
The connection between dress and war is not far to seek; your finest clothes are those you wear as soldiers.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
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 (1835–1910) American Humorist
Like the old soldier of the ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Goodbye.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Another source of power in government is a military force. But this, to be efficient, must be superior to any force that exists among the people, or which they can command; for otherwise this force would be annihilated, on the first exercise of acts of oppression. Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealous will instantly inspire the inclination to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive…
—Noah Webster (1758–1843) American Lexicographer, Journalist, Author
But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
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 (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Leave a Reply