Unleashing Courage: The Ultimate Collection of Inspirational Marine Boot Camp Quotes

"Retreat Hell! We've just got here!"

- Attributed to several World War I Marine Corps officers

"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy."

- Norman Vincent Peale

"Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving forward."

- Victor Kiam

"I've worked too hard and too long to let anything stand in the way of my goals. I will not let my teammates down and I will not let myself down."

- Mia Hamm

"The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence."

- Confucius

"Believe you can and you’re halfway there."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"Come on, you sons of bitches-do you want to live forever?"

- Gunnery Sergeant Daniel Daly

"Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal -- a commitment to excellence -- that will enable you to attain the success you seek."

- Mario Andretti

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue."

- Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN

"I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world."

- General Douglas MacArthur, USA

"Don’t Quit When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns, As every one of us sometimes learns, And many a failure turns about, When he might have won had he stuck it out; Don’t give up though the pace seems slow– You may succeed with another blow. Often the goal is nearer than, It seems to a faint and faltering man, Often the struggler has given up, When he might have captured the victor’s cup, And he learned too late when the night slipped down, How close he was to the golden crown. Success is failure turned inside out– The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far, So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit– It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit."

- Author unknown

"Being ready is not what matters. What matters is winning after you get there."

- Lieutenant General Victor H. Krulak

"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, til it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."

- Harriet Beecher Stowe

"Remember, the storm is a good opportunity for the pine and the cypress to show their strength and their stability."

- Ho Chi Minh

"When a goal matters enough to a person, that person will find a way to accomplish what at first seemed impossible."

- Nido Qubein

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

- Henry David Thoreau

"Success is waking up in the morning, whoever you are, wherever you are, however old or young, and bounding out of bed because there's something out there you love to do, that you believe in, that you're good at - something that's bigger than you are, and you can hardly wait to get at it again today."

- Whit Hobbs

"There isn't a ruler, a yard stick or a measuring tape in the entire world long enough to compute the strength and capabilities inside you."

- Paul J. Meyer

"Cherish your visions and your dreams. They are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements."

- Napoleon Hill

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope or confidence."

- Helen Keller

"Vision enables you to glimpse into the future, to sense its hope and power, because you yourself are the means for that future's creation."

- Sara Paddison

"You need to overcome the tug of people against you as you reach for high goals."

- George S. Patton

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence."

- Buddha

"We are not here to play, to dream, to drift; We have hard work to do, and loads of lift; Shun not the struggle–“tis God’s gift BE STRONG! Say not, “The days are evil. Who’s to blame?” And fold the hands of acquiesce–oh shame! Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God’s name. BE STRONG! It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong, How hard the battle goes, the day how long; Faint not–fight on! Tomorrow comes the song."

- Maltbie Davenport Babcock

"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up."

- Babe Ruth

"I am a kind of burr; I shall stick."

- William Shakespeare

"He conquers who endures."

- Persius

"The sky is no longer the limit."

- Richard Nixon

"Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes."

- Gautama B.

"A champion is someone who gets up, even when they can’t."

- Natalie Rogers

"And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in."

- Haruki Murakami

"None of us will become perfect in a day or a month or a year. We will not accomplish it in a lifetime, but we can begin now, starting with our more obvious weaknesses and gradually converting them to strengths as we go forward with our lives. This quest may be a long one: in fact, it will be lifelong. It may be fraught with many mistakes, with falling down and getting back up again. And it will take much effort. But we must not sell ourselves short. We must make a little extra effort. We would be wise to kneel before our God in supplication. He will help us. He will bless us. He will comfort and sustain us. He will help us to do more, and be more, than we can ever accomplish or be on our own."

- Gordon B. Hinckley

"The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it."

- Molière

"For the strength of the wolf is the pack, the strength of the pack is the wolf."

- Rudyard Kipling

"We need the iron qualities that go with true manhood. We need the positive virtues of resolution, of courage, of indomitable will, of power to do without shrinking the rough work that must always be done."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"Once a Marine, always a Marine!"

- MSgt Paul Woyshner

"Goddamn it, you'll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!"

- Captain Henry P. "Jim" Crowe, USMC

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position reached in life, as by the obstacles overcome while trying to succeed."

- Booker T. Washington

"The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary."

- Vince Lombardi

"I believe in myself and all my possibilities. I turn doubt into dreams and fears into excitement. I lean upon God’s power within me, knowing that this energy motivates and supports me in all ways."

- Doreen Virtue

"I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship."

- Louisa May Alcott

"A ship without Marines is like a garment without buttons."

- Admiral David D. Porter, USN

"You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have."

- Bob Marley

"I can't say enough about the two Marine divisions. If I use words like brilliant, it would really be an under-description of the absolutely superb job they did in breaching the so-called impenetrable barrier. . .Absolutely superb operation, a textbook, and I think it'll be studied for many, many years to come as the way to do it."

- General H. Norman Schwarzkopf

"The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years."

- James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy

"The bended knee is not a tradition of our Corps."

- General Alexander A. Vandergrift

"You don't hurt 'em if you don't hit 'em."

- Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller

"I still need Marines who can shoot and salute. But I need Marines who can fix jet engines and man sophisticated radar sets, as well."

- General Robert E. Cushman, Jr., USMC

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."

- Steve Prefontaine

"It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog."

- Archie Griffen

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals."

- Zig Ziglar

"Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal."

- Pamela Vaull Starr

"The Marines have landed and have the situation well in hand."

- Attributed to many sources

"Retreat Hell! We're just attacking in another direction."

"A man who wants something will find a way; a man who doesn’t will find an excuse."

"Fighting for your dreams isn’t always easy but it’s so worth it."

"A winner is one who accepts his failures and mistakes, picks up the pieces, and continues striving to reach his goals."

"Just because you might need to take it slow, it doesn’t mean you’re stopping."

"So celebrate what you’ve accomplished, but raise the bar a little higher each time you succeed."

"Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!"

"What this power is, I cannot say. All I know is that it exists…and it becomes available only when you are in that state of mind in which you know exactly what you want…and are fully determined not to quit until you get it."

"Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds."

"Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true."

"Success is not to be measured by the position that one has reached in life, but the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed."

"Only one thought at a time, one step at a time, one day at a time."

"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength."

"God is a place of safety you can run to, but it helps if you are running to Him on a daily basis so that you are in familiar territory."

"Every step in your life’s journey is a choice."

"Life is a series of choices between the bad, the good, and the best. Everything depends on how we choose."

"Life is a gift; respect is EARNED."

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall."

"Life is not a spectator sport so get off the sidelines and get in the game."

"Every day in every way, you are getting stronger."