Marine Quotes

I have grown to look upon Marines as something sacred; I have laughed with them and cried with them; cursed them and prayed for them; shivered and sweltered with them; suffered with them; fought with them, bled with them, and held them in my arms while they died. I have buried them. And all the time, I have loved them.  --Major Gene Duncan

I would rather have a good Marine, even a ruined one, than anything in the world when there are chips down. -- Ernest Hemingway, who knew something of men at war

I have only two men out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold.  --1st. Lt. Clifton B. Cates, MOH, (later Commandant), USMC, July 19, 1918 commanding 96 Company, 6th Marines, near the French town of Soissons.

Casualties: many, Percentage of dead: not known, Combat efficiency: we are winning. --Colonel David M. Shoup, USMC, MOH, (later Commandant) Tarawa, 21 November 1943.

The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines. Lord, how they could fight. --Major General Frank E. Lowe, US Army

There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: the Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a secondhand opinion. --Gen. William Thornson, US Army

It's a funny thing, but, as years go by, I think you appreciate more and more what a great thing it was to be a United States Marine... I am a U.S. Marine and I'll be one till I die. --Ted Williams,

Baseball Hall of Famer

USMC Sergeant responding to the female reporter about possibly going into "harm's way". "Ma'am, we're United States Marines. We ARE harm's way".

--You're making the wrong assumption that a Marine by himself is outnumbered.
Gen Peter Pace, 28Jul06

If I had one more division like this First Marine Division I could win this war.
General of the Armies Douglas McArthur in Korea, overheard and reported by Marine Staff Sergeant Bill Houghton, Weapons/2/5

The Marines have landed and the situation is well in hand.
Attributed to Richard Harding Davis (1864-1916)

Every Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman. All other conditions are secondary.
Gen. A. M. Gray, USMC, Commandant of the Marine Corps

I've always been proud of being a Marine. I won't hesitate to defend the Corps.
Jonathan Winters, comic and Marine

The American Marines have [pride], and benefit from it. They are tough, cocky, sure of themselves and their buddies. They can fight and they know it.
General Mark Clark, U.S. Army

The galleries are full of critics. They play no ball, they fight no fights. They make no mistakes because they attempt nothing. Down in the arena are the doers. They make mistakes because they try many things. The man who makes no mistakes lacks boldness and the spirit of adventure. He is the one who never tries anything. His is the brake on the wheel of progress. And yet it cannot be truly said he makes no mistakes, because his biggest mistake is the very fact that he tries nothing, does nothing, except criticize those who do things. Gen. David M. Shoup USMC, MOH

The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle.
Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing, U.S. Army, Commander of American Forces in World War I

I am convinced that there is no smarter, handier, or more adaptable body of troops in the world. --Prime Minister of Britain, Sir Winston Churchill

I can't say enough about the two Marine divisions. If I use words like 'brilliant,' it would really be an under description of the absolutely superb job that they did in breaching the so-called 'impenetrable barrier.' It was a classic- absolutely classic- military breaching of a very very tough minefield, barbed wire, fire trenches-type barrier. --Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, U. S. Army, Commander, Operation Desert Storm, February 1991

The Marine Corps has just been called by the New York Times, 'The elite of this country.' I think it is the elite of the world. --Admiral William Halsey, U.S. Navy

Being ready is not what matters. What matters is winning after you get there.
LtGen Victor H. Krulak, USMC, April 1965

By their victory, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the Fifth Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully. Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue. --Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, U.S. Navy

The bended knee is not a tradition of our Corps. --General Alexander A. Vandergrift, USMC to the Senate Naval Affairs Committee, 5 May 1946

You cannot exaggerate about the Marines. They are convinced to the point of arrogance, that they are the most ferocious fighters on earth- and the amusing thing about it is that they are. --Father Kevin Keaney, 1st Marine Division Chaplain, Korean War

The wonderful love of a beautiful maid, The love of a staunch true man,
The love of a baby, unafraid, Have existed since time began.

But the greatest of loves, The quintessence of loves, even greater than that of a mother,
Is the tender, passionate, infinite love, of one drunken Marine for another.
General Louis H. Wilson
Commandant of the Marine Corps
Toast given at 203rd Marine Corps Birthday Ball
Camp Lejueune, N.C. 1978

Lying offshore, ready to act, the presence of ships and Marines sometimes means much more than just having air power or ship's fire, when it comes to deterring a crisis. And the ships and Marines may not have to do anything but lie offshore. It is hard to lie offshore with a C-141 or C-130 full of airborne troops.  --Gen. Colin Powell, U. S. Army, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, During Operation Desert Storm

A Marine should be sworn to the patient endurance of hardships, like the ancient knights; and it is not the least of these necessary hardships to have to serve with sailors. --Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery

My only answer as to why the Marines get the toughest jobs is because the average Leatherneck is a much better fighter. He has far more guts, courage, and better officers... These boys out here have a pride in the Marine Corps and will fight to the end no matter what the cost. --2nd Lt. Richard C. Kennard, Peleliu, World War II

Freedom is not free, but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share. --Captain J.E. "Ned" Dolan, USMC (Ret.) Platoon Leader E/27, Korean War

We are United States Marines, and for two and a quarter centuries we have defined the standards of courage, esprit, and military prowess.
Gen. James L. Jones, USMC (CMC); 10 November 2000

You'll never get a Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!
Capt. Henry P. Crowe, USMC; Guadalcanal, 13 January 1943

Don't you forget that you're First Marines! Not all the communists in Hell can overrun you! --Col. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC, rallying his First Marine Regiment near Chosin Reservoir, Korea, December 1950

Gone to Florida to fight the Indians. Will be back when the war is over.
Colonel Commandant Archibald Henderson, USMC in a note pinned to his office door, 1836

Some say that we are the Spartans of current times. I would say that the Spartans are the Marines of their time." --1stSgt Mark Gordon USMC

"America is not at war. The Marine Corps is at war. America is at the mall."
--Anonymous Marine in Iraq.

Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?
GySgt. Daniel J. "Dan" Daly, USMC, near Lucy-`le-Bocage as he led the 5th Marines' attack into Belleau Wood, 6 June 1918

They told (us) to open up the Embassy, or "we'll blow you away." And then they looked up and saw the Marines on the roof with these really big guns, and they said in Somali, "Igaralli ahow," which means "Excuse me, I didn't mean it, my mistake".  --Karen Aquilar, in the U.S. Embassy; Mogadishu, Somalia, 1991

Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean, or skinny and mean. They're aggressive on the attack and tenacious on defense. They've got really short hair and they always go for the throat.  --RAdm. "Jay" R. Stark, USN; 10 November 1995

We have two companies of Marines running rampant all over the northern half of this island, and three Army regiments pinned down in the southwestern corner, doing nothing. What the hell is going on?  --Gen. John W. Vessey Jr., USA, Chairman of the the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the assault on Grenada, 1983

The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years.  --James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy; 23 February 1945
(the flag-raising on Iwo Jima had been immortalized in a photograph by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal)

The United States Marine Corps, with its fiercely proud tradition of excellence in combat, its hallowed rituals, and its unbending code of honor, is part of the fabric of American myth. -- Thomas E. Ricks; Making the Corps, 1997

Why in hell can't the Army do it if the Marines can. They are the same kind of men; why can't they be like Marines.  --Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, USA; 12 February 1918

I come in peace, I didn't bring artillery.  But I am pleading with you with tears in my eyes:  If you fuck with me, I'll kill you all. --Marine General James Mattis, to Iraqi tribal leaders

"The first day I was at Boot Camp, I was afraid I was going to Die! The next two weeks, my sole fear was that I wasn't going to die! After that I knew I'd never die because I'd become so hard that nothing could kill me." --WWI Marine Recruit, writing home.
"The {expletive} Marines have killed every living thing except the snakes and lizards!"
--[Capt. James A. Smith, US Army viewing the carnage after US Marines battled through Nasiriyah, Iraq, 24 March 2003]

For all of those that have sons or daughters at bootcamp let me pass on what I found. Let me give you a little back ground first. When my son left home he had no motivation, he was lazy, slobby, no pride, no self worth. This is the boy that got off the bus March 18th at Parris Island. The man that I met on Thursdayfor parents day is AWESOME. There is no way I can describe to you all the difference. He looks different, he walks different, he talks different, he has such a sense of bearing and pride all I could do was look at him in awe. Oh yes, the training is hard, what he went through is unimaginable to any one that has not been there. They are definitely taught to be Warriors. Let me tell you the surprise of what else they are taught. My Marine son has better values, better morals, better manners than anyone I know. It is so much more than Yes Sir, Yes Mam...so much more. He cares about how he looks, he cares about what he does, and it’s not a boastful, bad ass thing. He is a true gentleman. I saw patience, and a calmness in him that I have never seen. I could never express my gratitude enough to the Marine Corps for what they have given my son. I know this, I have an 11 year old Devil pup still at home. When the time comes for his turn if I had to I would take him kicking and screaming all the way. Although I'm sure that will not happen. The hero worship I see in my younger sons eyes for his Marine brother tells me I will have two Marines in the family, and I will be one very proud mother.  --"Cybil", Mother of a Marine writing to the myMarine Group

A Marine is a Marine.  I set that policy two weeks ago - there's no such thing as a former Marine.   You're a Marine,  just in a different uniform and you're in a different phase of your life.  But you'll always be a Marine because you went to Parris Island, San Diego or the hills of Quantico.  There's no such thing as a former Marine.

General James F. Amos, 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps

Do not attack the First Marine Division. Leave the yellowlegs alone. Strike the American Army.
Orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War; shortly afterward, the Marines were ordered to not wear their khaki leggings.

In my experience, Marines are gung ho no matter what. They will all fight to the death. Every one of them just wants to get out there and kill. They are bad-azs, hard-charging mothers. --From the book "American Sniper" by Chris Kyle​

When Private 1st Class Edward H. Ahrens in WWII was found clutching a sword surrounded by 13 dead Japanese soldiers, his final words were "I guess they didn't know I was a Marine."

"The American Marine will march down the barrel of an enemy rifle for you. It continually has amazed me over the years just how good the individual Marine can be."
--Captain Paul Goodwin, USMC, No Shining Armor, 1992

"The Americans are savages. They kill everything that moves." --Unfinished letter found on the body of a dead German soldier fighting the Marines at Belleau Wood, WWI

The Army and the Navy are run like traditional military services. The Air Force is run like a corporation. But the Marine Corps is a religion. --Navy Admiral