The best armor is to keep out of gun shot.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
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
Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle; a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory.
—Sun Tzu (fl.c.544–496 BCE) Chinese General, Military Theorist
There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
Every man who expresses an honest thought is a soldier in the army of intellectual liberty.
—Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–99) American Lawyer, Orator, Agnostic
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
An army is a nation within a nation, it is one of the vices of courage.
—Alfred-Victor, count de Vigny (1797–1863) French Poet, Dramatist
Secret operations are essential in war; upon them the army relies to make its every move.
—Sun Tzu (fl.c.544–496 BCE) Chinese General, Military Theorist
There were gentlemen and there were seamen in the navy of Charles the Second. But the seamen were not gentlemen; and the gentlemen were not seamen.
—Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–59) English Historian, Essayist, Philanthropist
Rogues, would you live forever?
—Frederick II of Prussia (1712–86) King of Prussia, Military Strategist
The greatest general is he who makes the fewest mistakes.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
War is too important a matter to be left to the military.
—Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929) French Statesman, Physician, Journalist
In order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence, the supreme quality for a leader is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office. If a man’s associates find him guilty of being phony, if they find that he lacks forthright integrity, he will fail. His teachings and actions must square with each other. The first great need, therefore is integrity and high purpose.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
Don’t talk to me about naval tradition. It’s nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity.
—Sun Tzu (fl.c.544–496 BCE) Chinese General, Military Theorist
In this country it’s a good thing to kill an admiral now and then to encourage the others.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
—Edward Everett (1794–1865) American Politician, Scholar
The army is the true nobility of our country.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
The military mind is indeed a menace. Old-fashioned futurity that sees only men fighting and dying in smoke and fire; hears nothing more civilized than a cannonade; scents nothing but the stink of battle-wounds and blood.
—Sean O’Casey (1880–1964) Irish Dramatist, Memoirist
Skill and confidence are an unconquered army.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
We are as near to heaven by sea as by land.
—Humphrey Gilbert (1539–83) English Adventurer, Explorer
One who sets the entire army in motion to chase an advantage will not attain it.
—Sun Tzu (fl.c.544–496 BCE) Chinese General, Military Theorist
‘Tis the soldier’s life to have their balmy slumbers waked with strife.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier.
—Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) British Writer, Poet, Novelist, Short Story Author
The mass, whether it be a crowd or an army, is vile.
—Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) Italian Head of State, Politician
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
Nothing can be more hurtful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army the superiority over another.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army can reach.
—Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) Soviet Leader
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