"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
Responsibility
"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
Courage
"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
Leadership
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts"
- Winston S. Churchill
Courage
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."
- President John Quincy Adams
Leadership
"Tell them of us and say, For their tomorrow, We gave our today."
- The Kohima Epitaph
Leadership
"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
Leadership
"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.
Courage
"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
Leadership
"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.
Leadership
"Always do everything you ask of those you command."
- General George S. Patton
Leadership
"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
Courage
"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
Leadership
"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."
- Joseph Campbell
Courage
"The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men."
- Minot J. Savage
Courage
"Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war."
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Courage
"True patriotism isn't cheap. It's about taking on a fair share of the burden of keeping America going."
- Robert Reich
Courage
"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
Courage
"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
Gratitude
"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
Leadership
"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
Leadership
"We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training."
- Archilochus
Leadership
"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
Leadership
"Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid."
- Col. David Hackworth
Courage
"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."
- Elmer Davis
Courage
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
- Winston Churchill
Gratitude
"No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation."
- General Douglas MacArthur
Courage
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."
- Mark Twain
Courage
"How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!"
- Maya Angelou
Compassion
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
- Confucius
Resilience
"Fortune favors the brave."
- Virgil
Courage
"The mind is everything. What you think you become."
- Buddha
Belief
"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."
- Thomas Paine
Courage
"Bravery never goes out of fashion."
- William Makepeace Thackeray
Bravery
"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
Empathy
"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
Leadership
"Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country's cause."
- Abraham Lincoln
Gratitude
"Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul."
- Michel de Montaigne
Courage
"In valor there is hope."
- Tacitus
Hope
"The legacy of heroes—the memory of a great name, and the inheritance of a great example."
- Benjamin Disraeli
Achievement
"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others."
- Marcus Tullius Cicero
Gratitude
"He who is brave is free."
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Courage
"No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks."
- James Allen
Gratitude
"He loves his country best who strives to make it best."
- Robert G. Ingersoll
Courage
"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything."
- Alexander Hamilton
Belief
"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."
- George Washington
Growth
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country."
- Benjamin Franklin
Motivation
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
- President Thomas Jefferson
Courage
"To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die."
- Thomas Campbell
Love
"Well done is better than well said."
- Benjamin Franklin
Integrity
"The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home."
- Confucius
Family
"The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."
- Patrick Henry
Courage
"No man is free who is not master of himself."
- Epictetus
Self-improvement
"Discipline is the soul of an army."
- George Washington
Leadership
"America means opportunity, freedom, power."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Motivation
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
- Thomas Paine
Responsibility
"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
- Nathan Hale
Courage
"For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue."
- James A. Garfield
Courage
"Gratitude is the sign of noble souls."
- Aesop
Gratitude
"To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace."
- George Washington
Peace
"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."
- Aristotle
Love
"The measure of a man is what he does with power."
- Plato
Integrity
"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
Leadership
"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God such men lived."
- George S. Patton
Gratitude
"Don't stop trying or fighting for what you believe in the first time someone tells you no."
- General (Retired) Ann Dunwoody
Perseverance
"No one hates war like a soldier hates war."
- Tommy Franks
Adversity
"Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Leadership
"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
Courage
"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
Leadership
"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."
- General George S. Patton
Empowerment
"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
Adversity
"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
Adversity
"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."
- Colin Powell
Hard Work
"Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best”"
- Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
Leadership
"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
Inspiration
"The truth is that you always know the right thing to do. The tough part is doing it."
- General Norman Schwarzkopf
Integrity
"leader leads by example, not by force."
- Sun Tzu
Leadership
"An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep."
- Alexander the Great
Leadership
"Who dares, wins. Who sweats, wins. Who plans, wins."
- British Special Air Service (SAS)
Courage
"The courage of a soldier is heightened by his knowledge of his profession."
- Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus
Courage
"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
Courage
"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
Bravery
"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
Leadership
"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
Courage
"The willingness of America’s veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude."
- Jeff Miller
Gratitude
"There is nothing nobler than risking your life for your country."
- Nick Lampson
Courage
"Over all our happy country over all our Nation spread, is a band of noble heroes–is our Army of the Dead."
- Will Carleton
Respect
"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
Leadership
"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
Leadership
"We're all one team - and together, we're strong and we're in this together."
- Bo Brabo
Teamwork
"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
Leadership
"Men mean more than guns in the rating of a ship"
- John Paul Jones
Belief in Self
"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
Insight
"Heroism doesn't always happen in a burst of glory. Sometimes small triumphs and large hearts change the course of history."
- Mary Roach
Courage
"Patriotism is not short, frenzied outburts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."
- Adlai Stevenson
Belief
"Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first."
- Charles de Gaulle
Compassion
"America without her soliders would be like God without His angels."
- Claudia Pemberton
Respect
"What I can do for my country, I am willing to do."
- Christopher Gadsen
Courage
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Gratitude
"A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Determination
"The patriot volunteer, fighting for country and his rights, makes the most reliable soldier on earth."
- Stonewall Jackson
Belief
"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
Persistence
"I was born as a soldier and will die as one."
- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
Belief
"Self-denial and self-discipline, however, will be recognized as the outstanding qualities of a good soldier."
- William Lyon Mackenzie King
Self-improvement
"Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for."
- General Norman Schwarzkopf
Courage
"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
Belief
"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
Belief
"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
Focus
"When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen."
- George Washington
Responsibility
"I believe that a man is the strongest soldier for daring to die unarmed."
- Mahatma Gandhi
Bravery
"The more comfort, the less courage there is."
- Field Marshal Prince Aleksandr V. Suvorov
Courage
"I have long believed that sacrifice is the pinnacle of patriotism."
- Bob Riley
Belief
"When you become a leader you give up the right to think about yourself."
- Gerald Brooks
Leadership
"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
Leadership
"Who you are speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what you are saying."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Leadership
"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
Gratitude
"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
Responsibility
"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
Hard Work
"The weapon of the advocate is the sword of the soldier, not the dagger of the assassin."
- Alexander Cockburn
Belief
"Every seaman is not only a navigator, but a merchant and also a soldier."
- William Petty
Belief
"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
Belief
"Facta non verba (Translation: Deeds, not words)"
- Canadian Joint Task Force
Determination
"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
Belief
"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America."
- William J. Clinton
Optimism
"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
Awareness
"The seaman tells stories of winds, the ploughman of bulls; the soldier details his wounds, the shepherd his sheep."
- Laurence J. Peter
Reflection
"To the soldier, luck is merely another word for skill."
- Patrick MacGill
Belief
"As a soldier, I survived World War I when most of my comrades did not."
- Lester B. Pearson
Belief
"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
Belief
"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
Belief
"The function of a citizen and a soldier are inseparable."
- Benito Mussolini
Belief
"I come from the slums; I come from a hard background; I come from a poor family; and I was a soldier."
- Michael Caine
Personal Growth
"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
Belief
"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
Belief
"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
Belief
"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
Gratitude
"In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons."
- Herodotus
Courage
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Wisdom
"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
Belief
"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
Belief
"When people know you've been a soldier, they judge you: you are a thief, a lost boy."
- Emmanuel Jal
Reflection
"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
Belief
"Children play soldier. That makes sense. But why do soldiers play children?"
- Karl Kraus
Reflection
"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
Belief
"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
Belief
"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
Belief
"What I find interesting about Captain Action is that he is more an adventurer and spy than he is a soldier."
- Chris Roberson
Belief
"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
Belief
"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
Belief
"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
Belief
"Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom."
Resilience
"Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful."
Morality
"Courage conquers all things."
Courage
"Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen."
Mindfulness
"The brave die never, though they sleep in dust."
Bravery
"He serves his party best who serves the country best."
Service
"When the will defies fear, when duty throws the gauntlet down to fate—when honor scorns to compromise with death—that is heroism."
Bravery
"The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree."
Love
"The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."
Respect
"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."
Gratitude
"Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them."
Bravery
"Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They’re just braver five minutes longer."
Bravery
"Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others."
Courage
"They do not love that do not show their love."
Love
"Our country is wherever we are well off."
Belief
"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths."
Philosophy
"Better than honor and glory, and history's iron pen, was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men."
Service
"The reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another."
Responsibility
"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good."
Morality
"A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle."
Philosophy
"He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything."
Hope
"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer."
Bravery
"The better part of valor is discretion."
Bravery
"Life is to be fortified by many friendships. To love and be loved is the greatest happiness of existence."
Love
"It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country."
Bravery
"Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."
Bravery
"A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand."
Inspiration
"A faithful man shall abound with blessings."
Success
"The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them."
Bravery
"He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much."
Belief
"No man is a leader until he is ratified in the minds and hearts of his men."
Leadership
"Pain is weakness leaving the body... I think weakness is pain entering the body."
Motivation
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."
Achievement
"Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. it flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it."
Respect
"Lift heavy, move fast, stay deadly"
Motivation