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
Those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) Irish Poet, Dramatist
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 (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Making the world safe for hypocrisy.
—Thomas Wolfe (1900–38) American Novelist
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
Tell me what brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
People have not been horrified by war to a sufficient extent… War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige as the warrior does today.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
War is too important a matter to be left to the military.
—Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929) French Statesman, Physician, Journalist
The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them.
—Clara Barton (1821–1912) American Social Activist
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
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
Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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 General, Statesman
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. Todays military rejects include tomorrows hard core unemployed.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to make good generals. We are first, therefore, to seek them blindfold, and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great losses.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
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
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
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
Perfect soldier, perfect gentleman never gave offence to anyone not even the enemy.
—A. J. P. Taylor (1906–90) British Historian, Journalist, Broadcaster
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
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
A good soldier, like a good horse, cannot be of a bad color.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
Rogues, would you live forever?
—Frederick II of Prussia (1712–86) Prussian Monarch
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
Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy.
—Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) American Diplomat, Academician
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
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
An army without culture is a dull-witted army, and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chinese Statesman
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