Historical Military Quotes

• Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Witty, Funny Inspirational, Business

  "The Military Quotation Book" by James Charlton, (p. 93), 2002.

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• War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.

  John Stuart Mill

  Military, War, Patriotic

  "The Contest in America", Fraser's Magazine, February 1862.

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  War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.

  William Tecumseh Sherman

  Death, Military, War

  "The Civil War Generation". Book by Norman K. Risjord, p. 143, 2002.

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• Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it.

  George S. Patton

  War, Home, Want

  Speech to the Third Army on June 05, 1944. "The Unknown Patton". Book by Charles M. Province, p. 32, www.pattonhq.com. 1983.

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• In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success.

  Isoroku Yamamoto

  Running, Military, War

  "Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan". Book by Ronald H. Spector, 1985.

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• Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes! Then fire low!

  Israel Putnam

  Military, War, Eye

  23 Copy quote

• Why, of course, the people don't want war.

  Hermann Goring

  War, Communist Leaders, Political Will

  Interview in Göring's jail cell, April 18, 1946. "Nuremberg Diary". Book by Gustave Gilbert, 1947.

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• So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Courage, Badass, Military

  Address at the Sorbonne, Paris, 23 Apr. 1910. Richard M. Nixon quoted this passage in his address to the nation announcing his decision to resign the presidency, 8 Aug. 1974. See Theodore Roosevelt 1; Theodore Roosevelt 2; Theodore Roosevelt 5

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• The essence of war is violence. Moderation in war is imbecility.

  John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher

  Military, War, Essence

  Lecture notes 1899-1902, in R. H. Bacon Life of Lord Fisher (1929) vol. 1, ch. 7

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• There's many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory but it is all hell.

  William Tecumseh Sherman

  Military, War, Boys

  1880 Speech at Columbus, Ohio,11 Aug. Quoted in Lloyd Lewis Sherman Fighting Prophet (1932).

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• It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.

  Robert E. Lee

  Memorial Day, Peace, War

  Attributed; after the battle of Fredericksburg, December 1862

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• Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

  Patrick Henry

  Death, Sweet, Freedom

  Speech in Virginia Convention, Richmond, Va., 23 Mar. 1775.

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• Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Witty, Time, Powerful

  28 Copy quote

• It is not the critic who counts

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Courage, Military, Failure

  Address at the Sorbonne, Paris, 23 Apr. 1910. Richard M. Nixon quoted this passage in his address to the nation announcing his decision to resign the presidency, 8 Aug. 1974. See Theodore Roosevelt 1; Theodore Roosevelt 2; Theodore Roosevelt 5

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• A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

  John Stuart Mill

  Freedom, War, Military

  90 Copy quote

• Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

  Winston Churchill

  Fear, War, Greatest Victory

  Speech in House of Commons, 13 May 1940

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  If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.

  Julius Caesar

  Military, Bad Ass, Law

  216 Copy quote

• We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

  Winston Churchill

  Inspirational, Strength, Beach

  Hansard 4 June 1940, col. 796

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• I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way.

  John Paul Jones

  Life, Fear, Military

  Letter to Le Ray de Chaumont, 16 Nov. 1778

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• Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

  George S. Patton

  Inspirational, Positive, Success

  54 Copy quote
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  The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

  George S. Patton

  Country, Military, War

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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  No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.

  George S. Patton

  Country, Military, War

  Attributed in Patton (motion picture) (1970). This is sometimes said to have been uttered in a speech by Patton to the Sixth Armored Division of the Third Army, 31 May 1944, but documentation is lacking. The following poem appeared in the Bureau of Aeronautics Navy Department News Letter, 1 Jan. 1943: "The greatest duty of a sailor / Is duty from worries and cares, / Not to die for his country, / Make our enemies die for theirs!"

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  I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.

  Nathan Hale

  Inspirational, Life, Country

  Before being executed as a spy by the British, 22 September 1776, in Henry Phelps Johnston 'Nathan Hale, 1776' (1914) ch. 7.

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• Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.

  Hermann Goring

  Country, Peace, Military

  Interview in Göring's jail cell, April 18, 1946. "Nuremberg Diary". Book by Gustave Gilbert, 1947.

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• I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

  Winston Churchill

  Determination, Military, War

  Speech in House of Commons, 13 May 1940

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