Military Quotes: Timeless Wisdom from Warriors and Leaders

"Airplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value"

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

"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, President

"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., Minister

"Developments in information technology and globalised media mean that the most powerful military in the history of the world can lose a war, not on the battlefield of dust and blood, but on the battlefield of world opinion"

Timothy Garton Ash, Author

"On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a nation, let it be our pledge that when they return home, we leave no veteran behind"

Dan Lipinski, Politician

"Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terrorism have reduced the pace of military transformation and have revealed our lack of preparation for defensive and stability operations. This Administration has overextended our military"

Barack Obama, President

"In view of China's growing military strength and intentions, the best way to safeguard Asia's permanent peace and prosperity is to have all Asian countries join forces with other democratic countries in the world to form a global community of democracies"

Jim Costa, Politician

"We need to ensure our men and women in uniform are equipped with the very best money can buy. We also have to make sure critical military technologies are developed in America and that the U.S. defense manufacturing base remains healthy and strong"

Joe Lieberman, Politician

"The later it gets the more disturbed the city becomes. I go with Albert through the streets. Men are standing in groups at every corner. Rumours are flying. It is said that the military have already fired on a procession of demonstrating workers"

Erich Maria Remarque, Writer

"Sometimes I sit down to dinner with people and I realize there is a massive military machine surrounding us, trying to kill the people I'm having dinner with"

Rachel Corrie, Activist

"We shall listen, not lecture; learn, not threaten. We will enhance our safety by earning the respect of others and showing respect for them. In short, our foreign policy will rest on the traditional American values of restraint and empathy, not on military might"

Theodore C. Sorensen, Lawyer

"Military justice is to justice what military music is to music"

Groucho Marx, Comedian

"Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms"

Groucho Marx, Comedian

"The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution"

John F. Kennedy, President

"After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military"

William S. Burroughs, Writer

"Of course, there is no question that Libya - and the world - will be better off with Gaddafi out of power. I, along with many other world leaders, have embraced that goal, and will actively pursue it through non-military means. But broadening our military mission to include regime change would be a mistake"

Barack Obama, President

"War is much too serious a thing to be left to military men"

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, Diplomat

"We find that the Romans owed the conquest of the world to no other cause than continual military training, exact observance of discipline in their camps, and unwearied cultivation of the other arts of war"

Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Writer

"The military lead turbulent lives, but they are people like everybody else"

William Westmoreland, Soldier

"The chains of military despotism, once fastened upon a nation, ages might pass away before they could be shaken off"

William Henry Harrison, President

"The law increasing and organizing the military establishment of the United States has been nearly carried into effect, and the Army has been extensively and usefully employed during the past season"

Martin Van Buren, President

"I know that military alliances and armament have been the reliance for peace for centuries, but they do not produce peace; and when war comes, as it inevitably does under such conditions, these armaments and alliances but intensify and broaden the conflict"

Frank B. Kellogg, Politician

"Why if I had half a chance, I could make an entire movie using this stock footage. The story opens on these mysterious explosions. Nobody knows what's causing them, but it's upsetting all the buffalo. So, the military are called in to solve the mystery"

Ed Wood, Director

"The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government"

James K. Polk, President

"The real peril of war lies not in military defeat. It lies in war itself, whether we win or lose"

John T. Flynn, Critic

"Many of our nation's great leaders began their careers at a service academy. I encourage anyone interested in a rewarding college experience or military career to apply as soon as possible"

Chris Cannon, Politician

"I heard an Israeli speaking on Palestinian human rights issues, an interesting guy, and he said "There's no military solution to terrorism. If there were, Israel would be the safest place in the world. But there's no military solution.""

Bradley Whitford, Actor

"I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a sense is new-one which I, who have spent so much of my life in the military profession, would have preferred never to use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare"

Dwight D. Eisenhower, President

"And like the old soldier in that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the sight to see that duty"

Douglas MacArthur, Soldier

"My first few films were institutional comedies, and you're on pretty safe ground when you're dealing with an institution that vast numbers of people have experienced: college, summer camp, the military, the country club"

Harold Ramis, Actor

"There has been a strong tradition in this country that it is not the function of the military to educate the public on political issues"

J. William Fulbright, Politician

"I went to military college in Canada and graduated as an officer in the Navy but also as an engineer"

Marc Garneau, Astronaut

"Fiji had experienced the ordeal of two military coups"

Kamisese Mara, Statesman

"As costly as it was in the lives of our men and women in uniform, in military assets, and in esteem and pride, Pearl Harbor was a watershed moment for America"

Joe Baca, Politician

"How many Catholic schools do you think teach the students to question the authority of the Pope? Do you believe Christian schools teach students to question or challenge the authority of Jesus Christ? Do military schools teach the cadets to challenge the authority"

Neal Boortz, Journalist

"Dead battles, like dead generals, hold the military mind in their dead grip"

Barbara Tuchman, Historian

"Dictators must have enemies. They must have internal enemies to justify their secret police and external enemies to justify their military forces"

Richard Perle, Public Servant

"For years, European leaders have pointed out that Europe is an economic giant, but a military pygmy"

Lord Robertson, Diplomat

"I support allowing homosexuals to serve openly in our military and eliminating the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy"

Ed Case, Politician

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