There are many reasons why we respect and celebrate the existence of our country’s military. We get to experience freedom because we are protected by strong and courageous men and women who are willing to risk their lives so we can live in peace as a nation. If you are in the military or your family member is in the military, you will surely love these inspirational military quotes we prepared just for you.
Inspirational Military Quotes
1. We are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free. – Ronald Reagan
2. 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
3. Military simulation is an important way of training people for an emergency. – Greg Gutfeld
4. Military confrontation is not a suitable alternative in confronting terror and current security threats. – Jalal Talabani
5. Military missions cannot be a normal tool of politics, but instead must remain the great exception. – Guido Westerwelle
6. These fallen heroes represent the character of a nation who has a long history of patriotism and honor and a nation who has fought many battles to keep our country free from threats of terror. – Michael N. Castle
7. War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military. – Georges Clemenceau
8. Moments of thinking are your military moments because they are the moments where you take the opportunity to attack and eliminate your problems. – Mehmet Murat ildan
9. A man does not have himself killed for a half-pence a day or for a petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify him. – Napoleon Bonaparte
10. The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. – Thomas Paine
11. Military commanders do not want to be tried for war crimes, even if those crimes are committed online. – Evgeny Morozov
12. 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
13. In a military operation, the command and control elements are a legitimate target. – Stephen Hadley
14. Military power wins battles, but spiritual power wins wars. – George C. Marshall
15. She had been proud of his decision to serve his country, her heart bursting with love and admiration for the first time she saw him outfitted in his dress blues. – Nicholas Sparks
16. A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. – Douglas Macarthur
17. The military wants a system that protects its policies and privileges. – Benazir Bhutto
18. ur military plans should be based on the assumption of unpredictability, rather than on carefully drawn, static models of the world. – James Fallows
19. The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men. – Minot J. Savage
20. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand. – Sun Tzu
21. 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
22. Our military and the strength of our military and the strengthening of our military is a number one priority for the Trump administration. – Donald Trump
23. Hopefully, one day Wars will only be fought in movies. And may the best producer win. – Stanley Victor Paskavich
24. The good general is simply the good company commander in his post graduate course. The idea that more godlike qualities are required of him and that he above others can achieve miracles through the working of his will is dismissed as idle superstition. – S.L.A. Marshall
25. Military glory the attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood. – Abraham Lincoln
26. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. – Winston Churchill
27. When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. – George Bernard Shaw
28. Also remember that in any man’s dark hour, a pat on the back and an earnest handclasp may work a small miracle. – S.L.A Marshall
29. Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here. – John Parker
30. The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his. – George S. Patton
31. 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. – H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
32. This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. – Elmer Davis
33. The military is faithful to the constitution. They will come in only to protect the people from the enemies of the state. – Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
34. We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us. – Winston S. Churchill
35. The military never uses a full word if they can create an abbreviation. – Philip Hammond
36. Do what is right, not what you think the high headquarters wants or what you think will make you look good. – Norman Schwarzkopf
37. Whoever said that the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons. – Douglas Macarthur
38. Speed is the essence of war. Take advantage of the enemy’s unpreparedness, travel by unexpected routes and strike him where he has taken no precautions. – Sun Tzu
39. Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. – Dwight D. Eisenhower
40. In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. – Dwight D. Eisenhower
41. Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it. – Mark Twain
42. Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter. – Winston S. Churchill
43. It is a proud privilege to be a soldier a good soldier with discipline, self-respect, pride in his unit and his country, a high sense of duty and obligation to comrades and to his superiors, and a self confidence born of demonstrated ability. – George S. Patton Jr.
44. There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time. – George S. Patton Jr.
45. A safe army is better than a safe border. – B.R. Ambedkar
46. The reason we call ships she is that it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder. – Chester W. Nimitz
47. The military don’t start wars. Politicians start wars. – William C. Westmoreland
48. I joined the army on my seventeenth birthday, full of the romance of war after having read a lot of World War I British poetry and having seen a lot of post-World War II films. I thought the romantic presentations of war influenced my joining and my presentation of war to my younger siblings. – Walter Dean Myers
49. I am concerned for the security of our great nation, not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within. – Douglas MacArthur
50. There were many, many times thereafter that Don regretted having enlisted but so has every man who ever volunteered for military service. – Robert A. Heinlein
51. Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of my way. – George S. Patton Jr.
52. A soldier’s life revolves around his mail. Like many others, I’ve been able to follow my kid’s progress from the day he was born until now he is able to walk and talk a little, and although I have never seen him I know him very well. – Bill Mauldin
53. 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
54. Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. – Dwight Eisenhower
55. Only the dead have seen the end of war. – Plato
56. Live for something rather than die for nothing. – George Patton
57. Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. – George S. Patton
58. It is fatal to enter a war without the will to win it. – Douglas MacArthur
59. Praise the bridge that carried you over. – George Colman
60. We live in a world that has walls and those walls need to be guarded by men with guns. – Aaron Sorkin
61. I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor food. I offer only hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles, and death. Let him who loves his country with his heart, and not merely his lips, follow me. Soldier, patriot, and uniter of modern Italy. – Giuseppe Garibaldi
62. No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair. – George S. Patton
63. Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier. – Colin Powell
64. The best morale exists when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear it it’s usually lousy. – Dwight D. Eisenhower
65. The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it. – Norman Schwarzkopf
66. There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure. – Colin Powell
67. I don’t know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they terrify me. – The Duke of Wellington
68. Today we say goodbye to a proud warrior. As we leave, each of us will take our members of midway with us you guys were the magic. It was a privilege to sail with you. – John Schork
69. If you find yourself in a fair fight, you didn’t plan your mission properly. – David Hackworth
70. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. – Admiral David G. Farragut
71. We have met the enemy and they are ours. – Commander Oliver Hazard Perry
72. War is hell. – Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman
73. No guts, no glory. – Major Gen. Frederick C. Blesse
74. I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country. – Capt. Nathan Hale
75. If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live. – Martin Luther King Jr.
76. To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less. – Andre Malraux
77. 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.
78. America’s finest our men and women in uniform, are a force for good throughout the world, and that is nothing to apologize for. – Sarah Palin
79. I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction, I served in the United States Navy. – John F. Kennedy
80. Heroism doesn’t always happen in a burst of glory. Sometimes small triumphs and large hearts change the course of history. – Mary Roach
81. The day the soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership. – Colin Powell
82. I’m fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in. – George S. McGovern
83. Only our individual faith in freedom can keep us free. – Dwight D. Eisenhower
84. I don’t know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they terrify me. – The Duke of Wellington
85. If you find yourself in a fair fight, you didn’t plan your mission properly. – David Hackworth
86. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defence than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. – Martin Luther King Jr.
87. Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back. – Heraclitus
88. It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived. – George S. Patton Jr.
89. Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never in nothing, great or small, large or petty never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. – Winston Churchill
90. Who dares, wins. Who sweats, wins. Who plans, wins. – British Special Air Service
91. Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste death but once. – William Shakespeare
92. Fortune favors the brave. – Terence
93. What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight it’s the size of the fight in the dog. – President Dwight D. Eisenhower
94. Those who stand for nothing fall for anything. – Alexander Hamilton
95. Soldiers can sometimes make decisions that are smarter than the orders they have been given. – Orson Scott Card
96. I am not afraid of an Army of lions lead by a sheep, I am afraid of sheep lead by a lion. – Alexander the Great
97. The Army is the true nobility of our country. – Napoleon Bonaparte
98. The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. – Albert Einstein
99. Those who give up essential liberties for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin
100. The supreme quality for leadership 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. – General Dwight D. Eisenhower
101. I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep, I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion. – Alexander the Great
102. I can’t expect loyalty from the army if I do not give it. – General George C. Marshall
103. The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools. – Thucydides, Greek historian
104. The most important thing I learned is that soldiers watch what their leaders do. You can give them classes and lecture them forever, but it is your personal example they will follow. – General Colin Powell
105. There’s no quitting, I can’t have quit in me. There was never an option to stop and quit. – Major Lisa Jaster
106. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone. – Eisenhower’s
107. A passion for life is contagious and uplifting. Passion cuts both ways. I want to create passion in my own life and with those I care for. I want to feel, experience and live every emotion. I will suffer through the bad for the heights of the good. – Pat Tillman
108. Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. – Abraham Lincoln
109. I was thinking really of future generations of women that I would like them to have that opportunity so I had that pressure on myself And not letting people down that I knew believed in me, people that were supporting me. – Capt. Kristen Griest
110. If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking. – George S. Patton
111. In the military, you learn the essence of people. You see so many examples of self-sacrifice and moral courage. In the rest of life, you don’t get that many opportunities to be sure of your friends. – Adam Driver
112. Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid. – Colonel David Hackworth
113. Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it. – Marcus Aurelius
114. People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. – George Orwell
115. Good luck, Godspeed, and come home safe. – Capt. Bill Murphy
116. 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
117. The only easy day was yesterday. – US Navy SEALs
118. We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf. – George Orwell
119. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had a purpose being in the Navy. It wasn’t about money and rank or prestige. It was about raising the flag. We do what we do because no one else can or will do it. We fight so others can sleep at night. And I had forgotten that. – Timothy Ciciora
120. There is no honor in sending men to die for something you won’t even fight for yourself. – Mark Owen
121. You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once. – Robert A. Heinlein
122. This country has not seen and probably will never know the true level of sacrifice of our veterans. As a civilian, I owe an unpayable debt to all our military. Going forward let’s not send our servicemen and women off to war or conflict zones unless it is overwhelmingly justifiable and on moral high ground. – Thomas M Smith
123. War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all, but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. – J.R.R. Tolkien
124. I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the army. Visiting Kathy’s grave was the less dramatic of the two. – John Scalzi
125. Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron. – Dwight D. Eisenhower
126. America without her Soldiers would be like God without His angels. – Claudia Pemberton
127. Kropp, on the other hand, is a thinker. He proposes that a declaration of war should be a kind of popular festival with entrance-tickets and bands, like a bull fight. Then in the arena, the ministers and generals of the two countries, dressed in bathing-drawers and armed with clubs, can have it out on themselves. Whoever survives the country wins. That would be much simpler and more than just this arrangement, where the wrong people do the fighting. – Erich Maria Remarque
128. The music at a wedding procession always reminds me of the music of soldiers going into battle. – Heinrich Heine
129. War is the greatest evil satan has invented to corrupt our hearts and souls. We should honor our soldiers, but we should never honor war. – Dean Hughes
130. It was not about physical strength, Wit reminded himself. It was 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. That’s what the seal instructors were looking for, men and women who could disregard the pleadings of the body. Pain was nothing, sleep was nothing. What was chaffed skin, wrecked muscles, bleeding sores? The body chooses to be sore. The body chooses to be exhausted. But the seal mind rejects it. The seal mind commands the body, not the other way around. – Orson Scott Card