171 Motivational Military Quotes and Sayings
The most precious thing in the world is life.Its not easy to fight in the war or serving duty on the border where any bullet can hit you easily.its so horrible and dangerous to perform duty in hard areas.But solider sacrifice hos life for his country,for the sake of his nation.Solider bears hardship but give comfort to his nation.these are the real heroes should give them respect and honor.Here we have great collection of military sayings by famous and brave generals,soldiers, majors, etc who faced wars,who faced crucial situation in the battles.These quotes and sayings will motivate you to join military and also motivate you to sacrifice your life for your country and emerge patriotism passion.
Table of Contents
Short Military Sayings
“Soldiers are not trained for retire.” —Bimo Satriyo
“The most important 6 inches on the battlefield is between your ears.” —Gen. James
“I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” —Capt. Nathan Hale
“No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself.” —William Penn
“When you need a tank, you need a tank!” —LTC Greg Reilly
“Who dares wins. Who sweats wins. Who plans, wins.” —British Special Air Service
“There is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer.” —Gen. James H. Doolittle
“In war there is no substitute for victory.” —General Douglas MacArthur
“The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare to win.” —Vince Lombard
“That’s the military. We don’t ask. We don’t care.” —Unknown
“Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self-interest.” —Nepoleon
“Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” —William Prescott
“I am a Soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight.” —George S. Patton
“Live today like he deploys tomorrow.” —Unknown
“No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.” —General Colin Powell
“Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” —John Wayne
“It take 15,000 casualties to train a major general.” —Ferdinand Foch
“Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of my way.” —George S. Patton Jr
“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” —Winston Churchill
“The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.” —Calvin Coolidge
“To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less.” —Andre Malraux
“These are the times that try men’s souls.”—Thomas Paine
“Responsibility and accountability is a big part of being in the military.” —Phil Klay
“No guts , no glory.” —Major Frederick Blesse
“Surrender? Don’t be bloody silly, we’re Australian.” —Unknown
“Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn’t block traffic.” —Dan Rather
“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” —Harry S. Truman
“War is too important a matter to be left to the military.” —Georges Clémenceau
“Where military service begins, logic ends.” —Turkish Proverb
“I can’t expect loyalty from the army if I do not give it.” —General George C. Marshall
“In war, the moral is to the physical as three is to one.” —Napoleon
“Victory belongs to the most persevering.” —Napoleon Bonaparte
“Destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.” —Abraham Lincoln
“The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.” —Hyman G. Rickover
“It is fatal to enter an war without the will to win it.” —Douglas MacArthur
“A few honest men are better than numbers.” —Oliver Cromwell
“Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.” —Groucho Marx
“Aim small, miss small.” —Capt. Benjamin Martin
“A body of men assembled to rectify the mistakes of the diplomats.” —Josephus Daniels
“Wars without military objectives have a tendency to go on forever.” —Virginia Postrel
“Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.” —Groucho Marx
“Freedom is never free.” —Unknown
“The only easy day was yesterday.” —US Navy seals
“Two armies are two bodies which meet and try to frighten each other.” —Napoleon
“One cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.” —Albert Einstein
“We have the finest military personnel in the world.” —Theresa May
“War is life multiplied by some number that no one has ever heard of.” —Sebastian Junger
“The dead soldier’s silence sings our national anthem.” —Aaron Kilbourn
“The greatest general is he who makes the fewest mistakes.” —Napoleon Bonaparte
“War is the mother of everything.” —Heraclitus
“Military men are the scourges of the world.” —Guy de Maupassant
“Live for something rather than die for nothing.” —George Patton
“To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less.” —Andre Malraux
“A safe army is better than a safe border.” —B.R. Ambedkar
“One of the best ways to keep peace is to be prepared for war.” —George Washington
“Drinking is the soldier’s pleasure.” —John Dryden
“Most of my young years were spent under the boots of the military.” —Paulo Coelho
“War would end if the dead could return.” —Stanley Baldwin
“No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair.” —George S. Patton
“Fortune favors the brave.” —Terence
“In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it.” —Field Marshall Erwin Rommel
“The military don’t start wars. Politicians start wars.” —William C. Westmoreland
“The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that refuse military service.” —Albert Einstein
“An army marches on its stomach.” —Napoleon Bonaparte
“When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.” —George Washington
“We chose this. We live this. We can do this.” —Unknown
“No man is a man until he has been a soldier.” —Louis de Bernières
“There is no victory at bargain basement prices.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Always do everything you ask of those you command.” —General George S. Patton
“If I charge, follow me. If I retreat, kill me. If I die, revenge me.” —U.S. Marine Corps
“On becoming soldiers we have not ceased to be citizens.” —Unknown
Military Sayings
“Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.” —Carl von Clausewitz
“Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.” —Capt. John Parker
“The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.” —George S. Patton
“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” —Winston Churchill
“Neither a wise 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
“It is well that war is so terrible, else we should grow too fond of it.” —General Robert E. Lee
“When you put on a uniform there are certain inhibitions that you accept.” —General Dwight D. Eisenhower
“It is far more important to be able to hit the target than it is to haggle over who makes a weapon or who pulls a trigger.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
“I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me.” —General George S. Patton
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” —George Orwell
“After military service, the most patriotic thing you can do as a wealthy person is pay your taxes.” —Mark Cuban
“After I was discharged from the military, it was difficult trying to become a civilian.” —Chris Kyle
“This will remain the land of the free so long as it is the home of the brave.” —Elmer Davis
“The number of medals on an officer’s breast varies in inverse proportion to the square of the distance of his duties from the front line.” —Charles Edward Montague
“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” —Alexander the Great
“Better to die fighting for freedom than be a prisoner all the days of your life.” —Bob Marley
“Never in the face of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.” —Winston Churchill
“Remember, this is a military operation. Nothing ever goes according to plan.” —Ludwig Beck
“There are no military solutions – dialogue and diplomacy are the only guarantee of lasting peace.” —Martin McGuinness
“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.” —General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
“Next to a lost battle, nothing is so sad as a battle that has never happened because we drone strike everyone now.” —Arthur Wellesley
“The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men.” —Minot J. Savage
“Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.” —General Colin Powell
“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.” —John F. Kennedy
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” —Abraham Lincoln
“Word to the Nation: Guard zealously your right to serve in the Armed Forces, for without them, there will be no other rights to guard.” —John F. Kennedy
“Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference. The Marines don’t have that problem.” —Ronald Reagan
“Gentlemen, we are being killed on the beaches. Let us go inland and be killed.” —General Norman Cota
“Every decision to use military force is an excruciatingly difficult one.” —Samantha Power
“Soldiers can sometimes make decisions t hat are smarter than the orders they’ve been given.” —Orson Scott Card
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” —G.K. Chesterton
“Military glory–that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood–that serpent’s eye, that charms to destroy.” —Abraham Lincoln
“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
“Many soldiers are led to faulty ideas of war by knowing too much about too little.” —Gen. George S. Patton
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” —Winston Churchill
“War is cruelty. There’s no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over.” —William Tecumseh Sherman
“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” —Winston Churchill
“Like so many women, especially military women, I waited to have children.” —Tammy Duckworth
“In the military, as in any organization, giving the order might be the easiest part. Execution is the real game.” —Russel Honore
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” —John Quincy Adams
“I don’t lose any sleep at night over the potential for failure. I cannot even spell the word.” —Gen. James
“The aim of military training is not just to prepare men for battle, but to make them long for it.” —Louis Simpson
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” —Edmund Burke
“On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a nation, let it be our pledge that when they return home, we leave no veteran behind.” —Dan Lipinski
“Children play soldier. That makes sense. But why do soldiers play children?” —Karl Kraus
“A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.” —George S. Patton
“Moving into an unoccupied village when there’s no opposition, I don’t call that a military victory.” —Norman Schwarzkopf
“When things go wrong in your command, start wading for the reason in increasing larger concentric circles around your own desk.” —General Bruce D. Clark
“If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” —Martin Luther King
“Real security lies in the prevention of war–and today that hope can come only through adequate preparedness.” —General Omar N. Bradley
“The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.” —Edward Gibbon
“Let us wage a moral and political war against war itself, so that we can cut military spending and use that money for human needs.” —Bernie Sanders
“For those who have fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.” —Unknown
“Close combat, man to man, is plainly to be regarded as the real basis of combat.” —Carl Von Clausewitz
“My centre is giving way, my right is in retreat, situation excellent. I attack.” —Ferdinand Foch
“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.” —Archilochos
“Now I want you to remember that 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.” —Gen. George Patton
“The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men.” —Minot J. Savage
“Battles are sometimes won by generals; wars are nearly always won by sergeants and privates.” —F.E. Adcock
“Neither a wise 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
“It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.” —Julius Caesar
“You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once.” —Robert A. Heinlein
“If my soldiers were to begin to think, not one would remain in the ranks.” —Frederick The Great
“You have to think about one shot. One shot is what it’s all about. A deer’s gotta be taken with one shot.” —Michael
“Soldiers usually win the battles and generals get the credit for them.” —Napoleon Bonaparte
“We win here or lose everywhere; if we win here, we improvethe chances of winning everywhere.” —General MacArthur
“The political and military position of socialism should be further cemented so that it can be an impregnable fortress.” —Kim Jong-un
“Our military might is the guarantor of Russia’s security and independence.” —Vladimir Putin
“If you find yourself in a fair fight, you didn’t plan your mission properly.” —David Hackworth
“It is well that war is so terrible, else we should grow too fond of it.” —General Robert E. Lee
“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
“Battles are sometimes won by generals; wars are nearly always won by sergeants and privates.” —F.E. Adcock
“Your job is to point that rifle into the other guy’s face and shoot him dead.” —General Matthew
“A military leader thinks about casualties and losses, but a strategic one only aims the win.” —M.F. Moonzajer
“Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.” —George Washington
“Discipline is simply the art of making the soldiers fear their officers more than the enemy.” —Helvetius
“There are only two types of warriors in this world. Those thatserve tyrants and those that serve free men.” —Unknown
“In military school, on day one you must memorize the mission of the Merchant Marine Academy.” —Robert Kiyosaki
“One must change one’s tactics every 10 years if one wishes to maintain one’s superiority.” —Nepoleon
“If you can’t get them to salute when they should salute and wear the clothes you tell them to wear, how are you going to get them to die for their country?” —George Patton
“In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten; then he who continues the attack wins.” —General Ulysses S. Grant
“Don’t let your ego get too close to your position, so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn’t go with it.” —General Colin Powell
“Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier.” —Samuel Johnson
“A bold general may be lucky, but no general can be lucky unless he is bold.” —Field Marshal Archibald
“The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is thesoldier who must suffer and bear the deepest woundsand scars of war.” —General Douglas MacArthur
“When I lost my rifle, the Army charged me 85 dollars. That is why in the Navy the Captain goes down with the ship.” —Dick Gregory
“An army without culture is a dull-witted army, and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.” —Mao Zedong
“A good sign that an army has been around too long is that it starts getting top-heavy with officers.” —Joe Haldeman
“The military might of a country represents its national strength. Only when it builds up its military might in every way can it develop into a thriving country.” —Kim Jong-un
“There is no avoiding a mandatory briefing; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.” —Niccolo Machiavelli
“The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.” —Norman Schwarzkopf
“The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight.” —A. J. P. Taylor
“The soldier is the Army. No army is better than its soldiers. The soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country.” —George S. Patton Jr
“Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war.” —Ernest Miller Hemmingway
“When war does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard.” —General Thomas
“Whatever the challenge, never quit, never gives up, and never surrenders.” —Charles M. Grist
“Why does the Air Force need expensive new bombers? Have the people we’ve been bombing over the years been complaining?” —George Wallace
“I will insist on a military so powerful no one would ever think of challenging it.” —Mitt Romney
“Wars based on principle are far more destructive…the attacker will not destroy that which he is after.” —Alan Watts
Top Ten Military Sayings
You will find here top ten military sayings selected by our team.
- “Soldiers are not trained for retire.” —Bimo Satriyo
- “Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.” —Capt. John Parker
- “There is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer.” —Gen. James H. Doolittle
- “When you put on a uniform there are certain inhibitions that you accept.” —General Dwight D. Eisenhower
- “I am a Soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight.” —George S. Patton
- “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” —George Orwell
- “It takes 15,000 casualties to train a major general.” —Ferdinand Foch
- “There are no military solutions – dialogue and diplomacy are the only guarantee of lasting peace.” —Martin McGuinness
- “The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men.” —Minot J. Savage
- “If my soldiers were to begin to think, not one would remain in the ranks.” —Frederick The Great
