Quotes on Military

I tremble for my country when I hear of confidence expressed in me. I know too well my weakness, that our only hope is in God.

Be convinced that to be happy means to be free and that to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war.

You're never beaten until you admit it

While vast sums of money are being siphoned off into hidden [military] coffers, Americas schools, hospitals and public services are facing cutbacks and closures.

The mere absence of war is not peace.

Power... Military success is not sufficient to win: economic development, institution-building and the rule of law, promoting internal reconciliation, good governance, providing basic services to the people, training and equipping indigenous military and police forces, strategic communications, and more of these, along with security, are essential ingredients for long-term success.

We used to have a War Office, but now we have a Ministry of Defence, nuclear bombs are now described as deterrents, innocent civilians killed in war are now described as collateral damage and military incompetence leading to US bombers killing British soldiers is cosily described as friendly fire. Those who are in favour of peace are described as mavericks and troublemakers, whereas the real militants are those who want the war.

You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.

I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets.

The Conqueror is always a lover of peace: he would prefer to take over our country unopposed.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

Here's my strategy on the Cold War: we win, they lose.

The courtroom is one instance of the fact that while our society may be liberal and democratic in some large and vague sense, its moving parts, its smaller chambers--its classrooms, its workplaces, its corporate boardrooms, its jails, its military barracks--are flagrantly undemocratic, dominated by one commanding person or a tiny elite of power.

War is a quarrel between two thieves too cowardly to fight their own battle; therefore they take boys from one village and another village, stick them into uniforms, equip them with guns, and let them loose like wild beasts against one other.

If it's natural to kill, how come men have to go into training to learn how?

In a sense, the better you adapt to school the less your chances are of later adapting to the actual world. So I figure, the worse you adapt to school, the better you will be able to handle reality when you finally manage to get loose at last from school, if that ever happens. But I guess I have what in the military they call a 'poor attitude,' which means 'shape up or ship out.' I always elected to ship out.

Many would be cowards if they had courage enough.

The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.

The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.

For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.

Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.