67 Powerful Military Quotes — Motivational Quotes About Military

Famous military quotes can also be a powerful source of motivation.

Powerful Military Quotes — Motivational Quotes About Military

we’ve created the following selection of some of the greatest and most powerful military quotes of all time.

Powerful military quotes remind us that freedom does not come for free.

There are moments when life in the military can appear strange and frightening.

When it comes to navigating the many new situations that come our way as service members, military spouses, or family members, it is helpful to know that others have also gone through them.

Motivational Quotes About Military – This is especially true when it comes to navigating the many new situations that come our way as service members. When things are at their worst, it might be comforting to hear from other people that there is still hope.

Quotes about Soldiers Memorial Day Military Sayings
Quotes about Soldiers Memorial Day Military Sayings #serve
  • There are plenty of military quotes anyone can learn from. Some of the best ones include:
  • “When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.” – Abraham Lincoln, 6th President of the United States
  • “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” – Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States
  • ”The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.” – General Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Army
  • “Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.” – General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur
  • “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell, former U.S. General, Secretary of State, and National Security Advisor

These quotes are ideal for writing letters, making posts on social media, or even just serving as a gentle reminder to oneself that this journey is worthwhile.

Military Quotes To Honor The Heroes Of Our Troops Show Appreciation

1. “The military system of a nation is not an independent section of the social system but an aspect of its totality.” – Tony Judt

2. “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

3. “I respect every soldier, from every country, who serves beside us in the hard work of history. America is grateful, and America will not forget.”

Great Military Leader Quotes Any Manager Can Learn
Great Military Leader Quotes Any Manager Can Learn #attitude

4. “They’ve got us surrounded — the poor bastards.” – An unnamed medic

5. “Those of us who have never been in the military don’t understand what it is like to serve in the military.”― Gina Barreca

6. “The army teaches boys to think like men.” – Elvis Presley

7. “Civilians enjoy their time because soldiers sacrifice their time.” – Amit Kalantri

8. “Man is a military animal, glories in gunpowder, and loves a parade.” — Philip James Bailey

9. “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” – Winston Churchill

Greatest Military Quotes of All Time Success
Greatest Military Quotes of All Time Success #independent

10. “It is of the nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority.” – Alexander Hamilton

11. “Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for.” – General Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Army

12. “Military power wins battles, but spiritual power wins wars.” –

13. “Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.” – Abraham Lincoln

14. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston S. Churchill

15. “Success in battle is not a function of how many show up, but who they are.” – Robert H. Barrow

16. “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.

17. “A leader leads by example not by force.” – Sun Tzu

18. “To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less.” – Andre Malraux

19. “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

20. “It would be a joke if the conduct of the victor had to be justified to the vanquished.” – Napoléon Bonaparte

21. ”Only our individual faith in freedom can keep us free.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

22. “We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” — Barack Obama

23. “War means fighting, and fighting means killing.”― Nathan Bedford Forrest

24. “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.

25. “Discipline is the soul of an army.” – George Washington

26. “I owe everything to the army.” – Norman Wisdom

27. “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

28. “No nation ever had an army large enough to guarantee it against attack in time of peace, or ensure it of victory in time of war.” – Calvin Coolidge

29. George C. Marshall

30. “A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace.” – President Theodore Roosevelt

31. “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with lots of pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.” – Woodrow Wilson

32. “You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once.” — Robert A. Heinlein

33. “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste death but once.” – William Shakespeare

34. “Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid.” — Franklin P. Jones

35. “A ship without Marines is like a garment without buttons.” – Admiral David D. Porter

36. “Freedom is never free.” – Anonymous

37. “The Army is the true nobility of our country.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

38. “The only things those people have that you don’t is guts. Do you wanna live forever?” – Merritt A. Edson

39. ”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

40. “When things go wrong in your command, start wading for the reason in increasingly larger concentric circles around your own desk.” – General Bruce C. Clarke

41. “Rich people don’t like to be in the military. The shoes are ugly and the uniforms itch. Rich people don’t go in much for revolution or terrorism, either.” — P. J. O’Rourke

42. “I almost always feel inclined, when I happen to say anything to soldiers, to impress upon them in a few brief remarks the importance of success in this contest,” – Abraham Lincoln

43. “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.” – General Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Army

44. “Could I have but a line a century hence crediting a contribution to the advance of peace, I would gladly yield every honor which has been accorded me in war.” – Douglas MacArthur

45. “If you wage war, do it energetically and with severity. This is the only way to make it shorter and consequently less inhuman.” – Napoléon Bonaparte

46. “Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.” – Thomas Jefferson

47. “We have met the enemy and they are ours.” – Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry

48. “A leader is a man who can adapt principles to circumstances.” – George S. Patton

49. ”I don’t know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they terrify me.” – The Duke of Wellington

50. “To be prepared for war is one of the most “effectual means of preserving peace.” – George Washington

51. “Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

52. “I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but by how high he bounces when he hits bottom.” – General George S. Patton

53. “Who dares, wins. Who sweats, wins. Who plans, wins.” – British Special Air Service (SAS)

54. “The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.” – Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.

55. ”Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.” – Douglas MacArthur

56. “From time to time, the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots. ― Thomas Jefferson

57. “The military is not so much a job, it is more of a death sentence.” – Steven Magee

58. “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure.” ― Colin Powell

59. “It is long since I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value.” – Alexander Hamilton

60. “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

61. “Effective leaders are made, not born. They learn from trial and error, and from experience.” – Colin Powell

62. “America is hope. It is compassion. It is excellence. It is valor.” — Paul Tsongas

63. “War is life multiplied by some number that no one has ever heard of.” – Sebastian Junger

64. “The military don’t start wars. Politicians start wars.”― William Westmoreland

65. “The objective of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.” ― George Patton

66. “Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all. ― George Washington

67. “We must never forget why we have, and why we need our military. Our armed forces exist solely to ensure our nation is safe, so that each and every one of us can sleep soundly at night, knowing we have ‘guardians at the gate.”- Allen West

We have included a range of statements that you will hear during your years as a member of the armed forces, a spouse of a service person, a member of a military family, or a loved one of a service member.

From words of encouragement to words of inspiration, from getting through deployments to getting ready for another relocation, and for those times when you are so incredibly proud of your service member that you simply cannot find the words to express it, this book has it all.

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