100+ Inspirational Quotes for Servicemen: Courage, Leadership, and Patriotism

"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

"The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war."

- Douglas MacArthur

"Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand."

- General Colin Powell

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts"

- Winston S. Churchill

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."

- President John Quincy Adams

"Tell them of us and say, For their tomorrow, We gave our today."

- The Kohima Epitaph

"The most important thing I learned is that soldiers watch what their leaders do. You can give them classes and lecture them forever, but it is your personal example they will follow."

- General Colin Powell

"The soldier is the army. No army is better than its soldiers. The soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country."

- Gen. George S. Patton Jr.

"I may not have been the best combat commander, but I always strove to be. My men depended on me to carefully analyze every tactical situation, to maximize the resources that I had at my disposal, to think under pressure, and then to lead them by personal example."

- Major Dick Winters

"If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do… the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."

- General George S. Patton Jr.

"Always do everything you ask of those you command."

- General George S. Patton

"The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission."

- John F. Kennedy

"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent."

- Douglas MacArthur

"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."

- Joseph Campbell

"The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men."

- Minot J. Savage

"Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war."

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"True patriotism isn't cheap. It's about taking on a fair share of the burden of keeping America going."

- Robert Reich

"These fallen heroes represent the character of a nation who has a long history of patriotism and honor – and a nation who has fought many battles to keep our country free from threats of terror."

- Michael N. Castle

"The veterans of our military services have put their lives on the line to protect the freedoms that we enjoy. They have dedicated their lives to their country and deserve to be recognized for their commitment."

- Judd Gregg

"If officers desire to have control over their commands, they must remain habitually with them, industriously attend to their instruction and comfort, and in battle lead them well."

- Stonewall Jackson

"Be an example to your men, in your duty and in private life. Never spare yourself and let your troops see that you don’t in your endurance of fatigue and privation. Always be tactful and well-mannered. Avoid excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide."

- German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

"We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training."

- Archilochus

"I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but by how high he bounces when he hits bottom."

- General George S. Patton

"Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid."

- Col. David Hackworth

"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."

- Elmer Davis

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

- Winston Churchill

"No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation."

- General Douglas MacArthur

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."

- Mark Twain

"How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!"

- Maya Angelou

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

- Confucius

"Fortune favors the brave."

- Virgil

"The mind is everything. What you think you become."

- Buddha

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

- Thomas Paine

"Bravery never goes out of fashion."

- William Makepeace Thackeray

"Owning the facts is a prerequisite to leadership. But there are millions of technocrats out there with lots of facts in their quivers and little leadership potential. In many cases, what they are missing is empathy. No one is a leader who can’t put himself or herself in the other person’s shoes. Empathy and expertise command respect."

- William Pagonis

"Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It’s about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter. It is about laying the groundwork for others’ success, and then standing back and letting them shine."

- Chris Hadfield

"Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country's cause."

- Abraham Lincoln

"Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul."

- Michel de Montaigne

"In valor there is hope."

- Tacitus

"The legacy of heroes—the memory of a great name, and the inheritance of a great example."

- Benjamin Disraeli

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others."

- Marcus Tullius Cicero

"He who is brave is free."

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks."

- James Allen

"He loves his country best who strives to make it best."

- Robert G. Ingersoll

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything."

- Alexander Hamilton

"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."

- George Washington

"Where liberty dwells, there is my country."

- Benjamin Franklin

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

- President Thomas Jefferson

"To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die."

- Thomas Campbell

"Well done is better than well said."

- Benjamin Franklin

"The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home."

- Confucius

"The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."

- Patrick Henry

"No man is free who is not master of himself."

- Epictetus

"Discipline is the soul of an army."

- George Washington

"America means opportunity, freedom, power."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

- Thomas Paine

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

- Nathan Hale

"For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue."

- James A. Garfield

"Gratitude is the sign of noble souls."

- Aesop

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace."

- George Washington

"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."

- Aristotle

"The measure of a man is what he does with power."

- Plato

"Leadership is of the spirit, compounded of personality and vision: its practice is an art. Management is of the mind, more a matter of accurate calculation, of statistics, of methods, timetables and routine; its practice is a science. Managers are necessary; leaders are essential."

- Field Marshal Sir Bill Slim

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God such men lived."

- George S. Patton

"Don't stop trying or fighting for what you believe in the first time someone tells you no."

- General (Retired) Ann Dunwoody

"No one hates war like a soldier hates war."

- Tommy Franks

"Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight on to the end."

- Field Marshal Douglas Haig

"Attract the right people. Let them know what they have to do. Give them the tools to do the job. And when they get it done, your job as a leader is to make sure they get the credit for it."

- General (Retired) Rick Hillier

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

- General George S. Patton

"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity."

- General Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war."

- Otto von Bismarck

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

- Colin Powell

"Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best”"

- Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

"Step one of inspiring your team is really to help them to get bought into the leader, but step two is to help them get bought into the mission"

- Former Commanding Officer US Marine Corps David Robinson

"The truth is that you always know the right thing to do. The tough part is doing it."

- General Norman Schwarzkopf

"leader leads by example, not by force."

- Sun Tzu

"An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep."

- Alexander the Great

"Who dares, wins. Who sweats, wins. Who plans, wins."

- British Special Air Service (SAS)

"The courage of a soldier is heightened by his knowledge of his profession."

- Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

"It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle."

- Norman Schwarzkopf

"I appeal to you as a soldier to spare me the humiliation of seeing my regiment march to meet the enemy and I not share its dangers."

- George Armstrong Custer

"Leaders must be motivators, educators, role models, sounding boards, confessors, and cheerleaders—they must be accessible, and they must aggressively pursue contact with colleagues and subordinates."

- Lieutenant General, William Pagonis

"I believe our flag is more than just cloth and ink. It is a universally recognized symbol that stands for liberty, and freedom. It is the history of our nation, and it’s marked by the blood of those who died defending it."

- John Thune

"The willingness of America’s veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude."

- Jeff Miller

"There is nothing nobler than risking your life for your country."

- Nick Lampson

"Over all our happy country over all our Nation spread, is a band of noble heroes–is our Army of the Dead."

- Will Carleton

"You manage things; you lead people. We went overboard on management and forgot about leadership. It might help if we ran the MBAs out of Washington."

- Rear Adm. Grace Murray Hooper

"That synchronized cycle — what we called our “battle rhythm” — was fueled by the O&I, which pumped information and context throughout our Task Force."

- General (Retired) McChrystal

"We're all one team - and together, we're strong and we're in this together."

- Bo Brabo

"Read over and over again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus, Turenne, Eugene and Frederic…This is the only way to become a great general and master the secrets of the art of war…"

- Napoleon Bonaparte

"Men mean more than guns in the rating of a ship"

- John Paul Jones

"All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavor to find out what you don’t know by what you do do; that’s what I call ‘guessing what was on the other side of the hill"

- Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington

"Heroism doesn't always happen in a burst of glory. Sometimes small triumphs and large hearts change the course of history."

- Mary Roach

"Patriotism is not short, frenzied outburts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."

- Adlai Stevenson

"Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first."

- Charles de Gaulle

"America without her soliders would be like God without His angels."

- Claudia Pemberton

"What I can do for my country, I am willing to do."

- Christopher Gadsen

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

- Martin Luther King Jr.

"A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon."

- Napoleon Bonaparte

"The patriot volunteer, fighting for country and his rights, makes the most reliable soldier on earth."

- Stonewall Jackson

"The most important thing is to never give up, never give in to circumstances, believe yourself, and to soldier on, no matter what's in your way."

- Luka Modric

"I was born as a soldier and will die as one."

- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

"Self-denial and self-discipline, however, will be recognized as the outstanding qualities of a good soldier."

- William Lyon Mackenzie King

"Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for."

- General Norman Schwarzkopf

"Every American soldier wants as much public support as he can possibly have. That's the soldiers on duty in Iraq, and that's me, as well. We fight better knowing that our people back home support us, back us, and understand what we're doing. It's hugely important."

- John Abizaid

"Indeed, we're strongest when the face of America isn't only a soldier carrying a gun but also a diplomat negotiating peace, a Peace Corps volunteer bringing clean water to a village, or a relief worker stepping off a cargo plane as floodwaters rise."

- Colin Powell

"Every soldier must know, before he goes into battle, how the little battle he is to fight fits into the larger picture, and how the success of his fighting will influence the battle as a whole."

- Bernard Law Montgomery

"When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen."

- George Washington

"I believe that a man is the strongest soldier for daring to die unarmed."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"The more comfort, the less courage there is."

- Field Marshal Prince Aleksandr V. Suvorov

"I have long believed that sacrifice is the pinnacle of patriotism."

- Bob Riley

"When you become a leader you give up the right to think about yourself."

- Gerald Brooks

"When things go wrong in your command, start wading for the reason in increasingly larger concentric circles around your own desk."

- General Bruce D. Clark

"Who you are speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what you are saying."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"All Americans should take great pride in the men and women serving our nation in Iraq and in the courage, determination, resilience and initiative they demonstrate each and every day. It remains the greatest of honors to soldier with them."

- David Petraeus

"We must differentiate between guilt and duty. The soldier on the front, like the common man, who does his duty everywhere, should not be held responsible for the actions of a few who also called themselves Germans."

- Oskar Schindler

"One doesn't become a soldier in a week - it takes training, study and discipline. There is no question that the finest Army in the world is found in the United States."

- Daniel Inouye

"The weapon of the advocate is the sword of the soldier, not the dagger of the assassin."

- Alexander Cockburn

"Every seaman is not only a navigator, but a merchant and also a soldier."

- William Petty

"I love America more than any other country in the world, and exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."

- James A. Baldwin

"Facta non verba (Translation: Deeds, not words)"

- Canadian Joint Task Force

"Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state."

- Thomas Jefferson

"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America."

- William J. Clinton

"For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it."

- Smedley Butler

"The seaman tells stories of winds, the ploughman of bulls; the soldier details his wounds, the shepherd his sheep."

- Laurence J. Peter

"To the soldier, luck is merely another word for skill."

- Patrick MacGill

"As a soldier, I survived World War I when most of my comrades did not."

- Lester B. Pearson

"Apart from the fact that any hardy exercise conduces much to the training and formation of a soldier, pig-sticking tends to give a man what is called a 'stalker's eye,' but which, par excellence, is the soldier's eye."

- Robert Baden-Powell

"Wars will remain while human nature remains. I believe in my soul in cooperation, in arbitration; but the soldier's occupation we cannot say is gone until human nature is gone."

- Rutherford B. Hayes

"The function of a citizen and a soldier are inseparable."

- Benito Mussolini

"I come from the slums; I come from a hard background; I come from a poor family; and I was a soldier."

- Michael Caine

"The true Christian is called to be a soldier and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant to live a life of religious ease, indolence and security. He must never imagine for a moment that he can sleep and doze along the way to heaven, like one traveling in an easy carriage."

- J. C. Ryle

"Battle is the soldier's vital breath! Peace turns him into a stooping asthmatic. War makes him a whole man again, and gives him the heart, strength, and vigor of a hero."

- Charles Studd

"This conflict is one thing I've been waiting for. I'm well and strong and young - young enough to go to the front. If I can't be a soldier, I'll help soldiers."

- Clara Barton

"During 65 years, I have walked the path of duty and discipline... And today, looking back at that long path of service, my soldier's heart stirs and murmurs from deep within: Thank you. Thank you, my homeland."

- Augusto Pinochet

"In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons."

- Herodotus

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

- Napoleon Bonaparte

"When I did A Soldier's Story, I was very young and green and thought I knew everything-now I know I know everything!"

- Denzel Washington

"I'm just a living witness that you can be an imperfect soldier and still be in the army fighting for God Almighty. Don't you think you got to be perfect 'cause I ain't."

- Steve Harvey

"When people know you've been a soldier, they judge you: you are a thief, a lost boy."

- Emmanuel Jal

"My dad was a Punjabi from Amritsar, and my mom is a Punjabi from Kashmir. My dad was a soldier in the Indian Army."

- Akshay Kumar

"Children play soldier. That makes sense. But why do soldiers play children?"

- Karl Kraus

"I crossed paths with a horse that happened to change my life. That horse is Game On Dude, and what a horse! He's a soldier. Together we traveled the world. We won the Santa Anita Big Cap, Goodwood, almost won the Breeder's Cup Classic; we won the San Antonio, Hollywood Gold Cup and the Californian."

- Chantal Sutherland

"I was a good soldier in the British Army. I was born in a very, very poor family. And I enlisted to escape hunger. But my officers were Scottish and they loved me. The Scots are good, you know."

- Idi Amin

"Sharpe is my favorite role of all that I've played. He's a very complex character. He knows that he's a good soldier, but he will always have to fight the prejudice of aristocratic officers because of his rough working-class upbringing. On the battlefield, he's full of confidence - but off it, he is unsure, a bit shy and ill at ease."

- Sean Bean

"What I find interesting about Captain Action is that he is more an adventurer and spy than he is a soldier."

- Chris Roberson

"Every soldier thinks something of the moral aspects of what he is doing. But all war is immoral and if you let that bother you, you're not a good soldier."

- Curtis LeMay

"I get a certain feeling when I go to Lambeau field in Green Bay. Soldier field in Chicago is special to me. Those are the places that I really like. The stadiums."

- John Madden

"Let the Palestinians run their affairs: create a situation in which no Israeli soldier will have to maintain public order, whether in Gaza or the West Bank. Let's give it to the Palestinians, as long as there is security for us. No more occupying another people."

- Yitzhak Rabin

"Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom."

"Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful."

"Courage conquers all things."

"Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen."

"The brave die never, though they sleep in dust."

"He serves his party best who serves the country best."

"When the will defies fear, when duty throws the gauntlet down to fate—when honor scorns to compromise with death—that is heroism."

"The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree."

"The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation."

"Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them."

"Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They’re just braver five minutes longer."

"Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others."

"They do not love that do not show their love."

"Our country is wherever we are well off."

"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths."

"Better than honor and glory, and history's iron pen, was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men."

"The reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another."

"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good."

"A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle."

"He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything."

"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer."

"The better part of valor is discretion."

"Life is to be fortified by many friendships. To love and be loved is the greatest happiness of existence."

"It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country."

"Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."

"A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand."

"A faithful man shall abound with blessings."

"The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them."

"He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much."

"No man is a leader until he is ratified in the minds and hearts of his men."

"Pain is weakness leaving the body... I think weakness is pain entering the body."

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

"Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. it flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it."

"Lift heavy, move fast, stay deadly"