Military Man Quotes

Army: A body of men assembled to rectify the mistakes of the diplomats.

Josephus Daniels

Military, Mistake, Army

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People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

Richard Grenier

Strength, Wisdom, Veterans Day

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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. Today's military rejects include tomorrow's hard-core unemployed.

John F. Kennedy

Military, Men, Doe

Kennedy, John F. (1964). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963”, p.753, Best Books on

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As far as Saddam Hussein being a great military strategist, he is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational arts, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier. Other than that, he's a great military man, I want you to know that.

Norman Schwarzkopf

Art, Military, Men

"Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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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.

Norman Schwarzkopf

Inspiring, Courage, Veterans Day

Norman Schwarzkopf (2010). “It Doesn't Take a Hero: The Autobiography of General Norman Schwarzkopf”, p.13, Bantam

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Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Life, Change, Wise

1952 In Time, 6 Oct.

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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

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Soldiers have many faults, but they have one redeeming merit; they are never worshippers of force. Soldiers more than any other men are taught severely and systematically that might is not right. The fact is obvious. The might is in the hundred men who obey. The right (or what is held to be right) is in the one man who commands them.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

Military, Army, Men

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I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but by God, they frighten me.

Duke of Wellington

Military, War, Humorous

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The 'eathen in 'is blindness must end where 'e began. But the backbone of the Army is the non-commissioned man!

Rudyard Kipling

Military, Army, Men

The Seven Seas (1896) "The 'Eathen"

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It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.

Theodore Roosevelt

Motivational, Courage, Strong

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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Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.

Chester W. Nimitz

Military, War, Marine

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Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.

Samuel Johnson

Army, Men, Thinking

In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 3, p. 265 (10 April 1778)

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Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men

George S. Patton

Inspirational, Veterans Day, Military

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These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Thomas Paine

Love, Summer, Country

The American Crisis, 19 Dec. 1776

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A leader is the man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don't want to do, and like it.

Harry S. Truman

Leadership, Army, Men

Harry S. Truman (2014). “1945: Year of Decision”, p.145, New Word City

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I had rather have a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call a Gentle-man and is nothing else.

Oliver Cromwell

Love, Military, Army

Letter to Sir William Spring, September 1643, in Thomas Carlyle 'Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches' (2nd ed., 1846)

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These are the times that try men's souls.

Thomas Paine

Veterans Day, Time, Motivation

The American Crisis, 19 Dec. 1776

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War is much too serious a thing to be left to military men.

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

Peace, Military, War

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In Haig's presence, Kissinger referred pointedly to military men as "dumb, stupid animals to be used" as pawns for foreign policy.

Bob Woodward

Military, War, Stupid

Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein (2013). “The Final Days”, p.194, Simon and Schuster

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We all know why [the generals] are so critical of the defense secretary. They're being defensive because they weren't able to implement his brilliant plan [on screen: Operation 'Greet Us As Liberators']. It was so simple: Go in with 100,000 troops, topple the regime, everybody loves us, and we leave by Easter 2003. These ex-military men have their right to their opinions, that's fine. They just shouldn't voice them during a war [on screen: 'Loose Lips Sink Approval Ratings']

Stephen Colbert

Easter, War, Military

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...you have been fraternizing with warewolves overmuch! Military men can be terribly bad for one's verbal concatenation!

Gail Carriger

Military, Men, Has Beens

"Heartless". Book by Gail Carriger, June 28, 2011.

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A change of opinions is almost unknown in an elderly military man.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

Military, Men, Elderly

"Utopia of Usurers and Other Essays". Book by Gilbert K. Chesterton, 1917.

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Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.

Henry A. Kissinger

Freedom, Military, Stupid

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When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses? When the surf of the centuries has made the great pyramids so much sand, the everlasting family will still be standing, because it is a celestial institution, formed outside telestial time.

Neal A. Maxwell

Military, Real, Home

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