Soldier Quotes

Trust should be the basis for all our moral training.

If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk.

We never fail when we try to do our duty, we always fail when we neglect to do it.

Be Prepared... the meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise.

We're all concerned about the budget. We're all concerned about what's happening financially in our country. There's no question about it. Congress is working day and night. In fact, every time I go home the lights are on at the top of the Capitol.

We can't stay in Afghanistan forever.

We are acknowledging the close personal nature of our 10 years at war and the strong bonds of fidelity that Marines have for one another, especially for those fellow Marines who we have lost.

There's not really a ban on the KIA bracelet specifically. There are regulations for wearing the uniform and specifically jewelry, and Marines are not allowed to wear bracelets. This falls under that spectrum. Now, the KIA bracelet will be lumped into the same category as the POW/MIA bracelets, whic

The Marine Corps has been, and will continue to be, America's Expeditionary Force in Readiness - ready to respond to today's crisis, with today's Marine forces, today.

Spread the gospel that the Marine Corps is a force that has changed. We're not in 1942 anymore.

Our nation will have 50 percent less ability to do whatever our bidding is because the joint strike fighter program was canceled. There is nothing that is going to be a replacement besides the Joint Strike Fighter.

Memorial bracelets memorializing prisoners of war, missing in action, killed in action, and those who died of wounds or injuries sustained in a combat theater are authorized.

I'm not out for quotas. I'm out to attract the best young men and women of our nation.

I felt that justice had been served and that the world was, in some way, a better place for all of us.

All Marines, sailors and civilian Marines, regardless of sexual orientation, are Marines first. Every Marine is a valued member of our war-fighting team.

If you're not ready the moment things happen, then you're irrelevant, you might as well not go.

There's a mindset of flexibility and adaptability that comes with us. We don't mind hardship. We don't mind somebody saying, 'Go in and do this nasty job.' Whatever the job is, we can do it. That's why the nation has a Marine Corps.

There are three easy ways of losing money - racing is the quickest, women the most pleasant, and farming the most certain.

You know, great powers don't get angry, great powers don't make decisions hastily in a crisis.

We're pursuing a strategic partnership with Afghanistan on the case of the United States and Afghanistan where we're going to push toward a future. It is the future that the Afghans desire with the United States. It is a future that the Afghans desire with the international community and we desire t

We're probably going to see some post-2014 military presence - some U.S. presence and a NATO presence - and while we've got much work to do in the next 29 months, we'll have additional time later for the continued professionalization of the Afghan security forces.

We don't want the Taliban to put down roots, or the al Qaeda to put down roots in Afghanistan that can facilitate Afghanistan becoming - once again - a launching pad for international terrorism.

We don't see that the Taliban ultimately can succeed, and it's a combination both of what the international community can do to support Afghanistan, not just in the short term, but over the long term.

There is a direct line relationship between what happened in Afghanistan in the work up to 11 September 2001 and what we're doing in Afghanistan today.

There are tens of thousands of interactions every single day across Afghanistan between the Afghan troops and International Security Assistance Force. On most of those, every single day we continue to deepen and broaden the relationship we seek.

Protecting Afghan civilians is the cornerstone of our mission.

Planning is really the hallmark of any large military formation, and it's typically a weakness in new formations and new armies.

I seek as much as I can to mitigate risk.

I can't spend a lot of time worrying about the numbers at home. I've got to focus on the mission.

And the narrative for the Taliban that they can wait us out is a flawed narrative. I think that the unambiguous international support for Afghanistan has been a very powerful message. You know, that was the message that came out of the NATO summit. We will not abandon Afghanistan.