Military History Quotes

“We were children of the 1950s and John Kennedy's young stalwarts of the early 1960s. He told the world that Americans would "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship" in the defense of freedom. We were the down payment on that costly contract, but the man who signed it was not there when we fulfilled his promise. John Kennedy waited for us on a hill in Arlington National Cemetery, and in time we came by the thousands to fill those slopes with out white marble markers and to ask on the murmur of the wind if that was truely the future he had envisioned for us.”
― Joseph L. Galloway

“Only a foolish woman would allow her man to earn his living as a moving target.”
― David Hackworth

“Conviction rates in the military are pathetic, with most offenders going free AND THERE IS NO RECOURSE FOR APPEAL! The military believes the Emperor has his clothes on, even when they are down around his ankles and he is coming in the woman's window with a knife! Military juries give low sentences or clear offender's altogether. Women can be heard to say “it's not just me” over and over. Men may get an Article 15, which is just a slap on the wrist, and doesn't even follow them in their career. This is hardly a deterrent. The perpetrator frequently stays in place to continue to intimidate their female victims, who are then treated like mental cases, who need to be discharged. Women find the tables turned, letters in their files, trumped up Women find the tables turned, letters in their files, trumped up charges; isolation and transfer are common, as are court ordered psychiatric referrals that label the women as lying or incompatible with military service because they are “Borderline Personality Disorders” or mentally unbalanced. I attended many of these women, after they were discharged, or were wives of abusers, from xxx Air Force Base, when I was a psychotherapist working in the private sector. That was always their diagnosis, yet retesting tended to show something different after stabilization, like PTSD.”
― Diane Chamberlain, Conduct Unbecoming: Rape, Torture, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from Military Commanders

“Life is worth living and no matter what it throws at you it is important to keep your eyes on the prize of the happiness that will come. Even when the Death Railway reduced us to little more than animals, humanity in the shape of our saintly medical officers triumphed over barbarism.

Remember, while it always seems darkest before the dawn, perseverance pays off and the good times will return.”
― Alistair Urquhart, The Forgotten Highlander: My Incredible Story of Survival During the War in the Far East

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

“Alas, all that sound and fury disguised the fact that on Omaha Beach at least, the bombs fell too long, the rockets fell too short, and the naval gunfire was too brief.”
― Craig L. Symonds, Neptune: Allied Invasion of Europe and the The D-Day Landings

“I'm too old to be ignorant as I am."
--Twelve-year-old Gabriella to the general, who does not want her to know about Emmett Till and the world's brutality.”
― Elle Thornton, The Girl Who Swam to Atlantis

“I'm not a ranger, I'm a pilot.”
― Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War

“I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought.”
― Shelby Foote, The Civil War, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox

“[A]s military history reveals, a bad plan is often better than no plan, especially if the people on the other side think it’s a good plan.”
― Adam Gopnik

“We have been waiting for an hour when we see a squad of German soldiers line up on the roadbed alongside the train. Next comes a column of people in civilian clothes. Surely they are Jews. All of them are rather well dressed, with suitcases in their hands as if departing peacefully on vacation. They climb aboard the train while a sergeant major keeps them moving along, “Schnell, schnell.” There are men and women of all ages, even children. Among them I see one of my former students, Jeanine Crémieux. She got married in 1941 and had a baby last spring. She is holding the infant in her left arm and a suitcase in her right hand. The first step is very high above the rocky roadbed. She puts the suitcase on the step and holds on with one hand to the doorjamb, but she can’t quite hoist herself up. The sergeant major comes running, hollers, and kicks her in the rear. Losing her balance, she screams as her baby falls to the ground, a pathetic little white wailing heap. I will never know if it was hurt, because my friends pulled me back and grabbed my hand just as I was about to shoot.

Today I know what hate is, real hate, and I swear to myself that these acts will be paid for.”
― Lucie Aubrac, Outwitting the Gestapo

“Warfare is a series of tragedies enjoined by logistics.”
― Kevin Carson

“Now I lay me down to sleep In mud that’s many fathoms deep. If I’m not here when you awake Just hunt me up with an oyster rake”
― Shelby Foote, The Civil War, Vol. 2: Fredericksburg to Meridian

“It is well known…that the military historian is at his best when giving the names of field officers who fell in battle, and at his worst when attempting to explain the reason for the general officer to have made a certain decision at a certain time.”
― Steven Brust, The Paths of the Dead

“Attila, just like every other nomadic conqueror, appreciated the skills of the clever craftsmen and engineers of rival sedentary, bureaucratic empires.”
― Kenneth W. Harl, Empires of the Steppes: A History of the Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilization

“Sobieski's cheerful gallantry prompted a new confidence among his hussars, and they won a string of victories over the Turks and their Tatar auxiliaries, and when he marched to the relief of Vienna (1683) it was 'with the bravest cavalry that the Sun ever beheld'.”
― Richard Brzezinski, Polish Winged Hussar 1576–1775

“Rules of Engagement had consequences for those who fought with everything they had, far beyond the end of the war”
― Andrew Balaam, Skuzapo: The untold story

“Skuzapo label: a soldier who was not black or white but simply a vital half of one soldier”
― Andrew Balaam, Skuzapo: The untold story

“To pass yourself off as a terrorist was no easy task. The pressure was continuous, day and night, twenty-four hours a day. You were operating in a world where a slip of the tongue, a wrong item of clothing could cost you and your team their lives.”
― Andrew Balaam, Skuzapo: The untold story

“Deep down there is the feeling that what we participated in was morally wrong, and can never be looked upon as legitimate. We can make all kinds of excuses, but it can never justify the murder, the savagery and the barbarism that was inflicted on the Vietnamese people under the guise of saving the world from communism.”
― Terry Burstall, The Soldiers' Story: The Battle at Xa Long Tan Vietnam, 18 August 1966

“Vietnam was never a threat to America or Australia, but it was a threat to their perceived interests. For those selfish interests we fought and were maimed and died. It was not for patriotism, and not to save freedom or humanity: it was to save vested interests.”
― Terry Burstall, The Soldiers' Story: The Battle at Xa Long Tan Vietnam, 18 August 1966

“Sometimes a man befriends his worst enemies in order to achieve victory over those enemies.”
― John J. McBrearty, COMBAT JOURNAL: A Soldier's Journey to Hell, Part 3 of 4

“Truth in itself is rarely sufficient to make men act. Hence the step is always long from cognition to volition, from knowledge to ability. The most powerful springs of action in men lie in his emotions. He derives his most vigorous support, if we may use the term, from that blend of brains and temperament which we have learned to recognize in the qualities of determination, firmness, staunchness, and strength of character.”
― Carl von Clausewitz, On War

“Despite his desire for a simple burial, hundreds of people attended his funeral, marking the beginning of more formal military honors: the caparisoned horse, the firing of three volleys at sea answered by those fired from the lawn at Mount Vernon, and a U.S. flag carried in the procession.”
― Benjamin A. Saunders

“The firing of three volleys commenced with seven rifles blasting out in unison for three rounds each: the first to signify a truce of battle of life, the second volley to clear and buy the dead, and the third to return to fight another day.”
― Benjamin A. Saunders

“The firing of three volleys commenced with seven rifles blasting out in unison for three rounds each: the first to signify a truce of battle of life, the second volley to clear and bury the dead, and the third to return to fight another day.”
― Benjamin A. Saunders

“Chancellorsville marked the culmination of achievement for Lee's "glorious army" that remains indelibly etched in the nation's history. No American army, against such odds and in less than a year, compiled such a record as that of the Army of Northern Virginia, and none altered the direction of a conflict more.”
― Jeffry D. Wert, A Glorious Army: Robert E. Lee's Triumph, 1862-1863

“No one told them that dollars and cents were the real reason. No one mentioned to them, as they marched away, that their going and their dying would mean huge war profits. No one told these American soldiers that they might be shot down by bullets made by their own brothers here. No one told them that the ships on which they were going to cross might be torpedoed by submarines built with United States patents. They were just told it was to be a 'Glorious Adventure' (Page 44)”
― Smedley D. Butler, War Is a Racket

“Perplexity and inactivity have frequently led to catastrophies. The councils of the mass undermined the authority of the leaders.”
― Erwin Rommel, Infantry Attacks

“Corsican Checkmate by Stewart Stafford

With one loyal warhorse,
I could snatch victory!
You force an ultimatum,
An eagle downed for wrens.

Are you battle steeds,
Or brood mares of a new stallion?
Or do you take my knight,
In impotent checkmate?

I, Napoleon, ruled Europe,
From Brest to Brest-Litovsk,
A chicken feather’s stroke,
And my empire falls.

You offer exile to Elba,
Reaping rich estates
Which I secured for you,
Silence is my thanks.

Give me your vile scrap,
No death warrant, but close,
I’ll scratch my mighty name,
Here’s my blood — begone!
This about the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte.

© 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford