Explore Quotes by James Mattis

Be the hunter, not the hunted: Never allow your unit to be caught with its guard down.

You've been told that you're broken. That you're damaged goods ... there is also Post-Traumatic Growth. You come back from war stronger and more sure of who you are.

Ultimately, a real understanding of history means that we face NOTHING new under the sun.

An untrained or uneducated Marine ... deployed to the combat zone is a bigger threat to mission accomplishment ... than the enemy.

There are hunters and there are victims. By your discipline...you will decide if you are a hunter or a victim.

You can overcome wrong technology. Your people have the initiative, they see the problem, no big deal ... you can't overcome bad culture. You've gotta change whoever is in charge.

There is nothing better than getting shot at and missed. It's really great.

I would happily storm hell in the company of these troops ... how strongly they have demonstrated to the world that free men and women can fight like the dickens.

Demonstrate to the world there is "No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy" than a U.S. Marine.

You are part of the world's most feared and trusted force. Engage your brain before you engage your weapon.

A country that armed Stalin to defeat Hitler can certainly work alongside enemies of al-Qaida to defeat al-Qaida.

Treachery has existed as long as there's been warfare, and there's always been a few people that you couldn't trust.

For the mission's sake, our country's sake, and the sake of the men who carried the Division's colors in the past battles - who fought for life and never lost their nerve - carry out your mission and keep your honor clean. Demonstrate to the world there is "No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy" than a U.S. Marine.

Fight with a happy heart and strong spirit.

We've backed off in good faith to try and give you a chance to straighten this problem out. But I am going to beg with you for a minute. I'm going to plead with you, do not cross us. Because if you do, the survivors will write about what we do here for 10,000 years.

Find the enemy that wants to end this experiment (in American democracy) and kill every one of them until they're so sick of the killing that they leave us and our freedoms intact.

In this age, I don't care how tactically or operationally brilliant you are, if you cannot create harmony - even vicious harmony - on the battlefield based on trust across service lines, across coalition and national lines, and across civilian/military lines, you need to go home, because your leadership is obsolete. We have got to have officers who can create harmony across all those lines.

PowerPoint makes us stupid.

There are some people who think you have to hate them in order to shoot them. I don't think you do. It's just business.

The most important six inches on the battlefield is between your ears.

You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually, it’s a lot of fun to fight. You know, it’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right up front with you — I like brawling.