Inspiring Military Quotes to Motivate and Lead

"The essential tasks of the military leader, summarized by Dick Winters: 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

"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

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

- Gerald Brooks

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

- President John Quincy Adams

"Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of the men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory."

- General George S. Patton

"In war there is no substitute for victory."

- General Douglas MacArthur

"Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense."

- Winston Churchill

"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

"There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."

- General George S. Patton

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

- Lieutenant General Victor H. Krulak

"Veni, Vedi, Vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)"

- Julius Caesar

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

- General George S. Patton

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

- General Norman Schwarzkopf

"Man is and always will be the supreme element in combat, and upon the skill, the courage and endurance, and the fighting heart of the individual soldier the issue will ultimately depend."

- General Matthew B. Ridgway

"There is far more to professional fitness than knowledge and skill in the techniques and tools of war. These the officer must have, but the final test of his ability is not in what he knows but what he is."

- General Matthew R. Ridgway

"There is no substitute for victory."

- General Douglas MacArthur

"The soldier's heart, the soldier's spirit, the soldier's soul, are everything."

- George Marshall

"Nothing is easy in war. Mistakes are always paid for in casualties and troops are quick to sense any blunder made by their commanders."

- General Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Never take counsel of your fears."

- General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson

"War means fighting. The business of the soldier is to fight."

- General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson

"Duty is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things, You cannot do more."

- General Robert E. Lee

"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

"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 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

"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

"I never dodge! When I hear the bugle sound a retreat, I will leave, and not before."

- General Israel D. Richardson

"Men, let us die like soldiers."

- LIEUTENANT CURWEN B. McLELLAN

"Stand your ground! Don't fire unless fired upon! But if they want to have a war, let it begin here!"

- Captain Jonas Parker

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

- General George S. Patton

"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

"A leader leads by example, not by force."

- Sun Tzu

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

- Nathan Hale

"The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand."

- Sun Tzu

"Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death."

- Sun Tzu

"Once a Marine, always a Marine!"

- MSgt Paul Woyshner

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

- Gunnery Sergeant Daniel Daly

"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 Norman Schwarzkopf

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

- Captain Henry P. "Jim" Crowe, USMC

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

- Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

"The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instruction and give commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey."

- LTG John M. Schofield

"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

"The most precious commodity with which the Army deals is the individual soldier who is the heart and soul of our combat forces."

- General J. Lawton Collins

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

- General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson

"An army fearful of its officers is never as good as one that trusts and confides in its leaders."

- General Dwight D. Eisenhower

"To move swiftly, strike vigorously, and secure all the fruits of the victory is the secret of successful war."

- General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson

"In war, the only sure defense is offense, and the efficiency of offense depends on the warlike souls of those conducting it."

- General George S. Patton

"Men must be habituated to obey or they cannot be controlled in battle."

- General Robert E. Lee

"You are there, stay there!"

- General Robert L. Bullard

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

- Patrick Henry

"Let your watchword be, fight, fight, fight."

- General Gordon Granger

"I will hold New Orleans in spite of Urop 51g and all."

- General Andrew Jackson

"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

"Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes."

- Colonel William Prescott

"We have met the enemy and they are ours!"

- Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry

"Victory belongs to the most persevering."

- Napoleon Bonaparte

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

- Alexander the Great

"If I do my full duty, the rest will take care of itself."

- General George S. Patton

"War makes extremely heavy demands on the soldier’s strength and nerves. For this reason, make heavy demands on your men in peacetime exercises."

- German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

"Boys! Raise the colors and follow me."

- General Joseph Hooker

"Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster."

- General William T. Sherman

"I shall return."

- General Douglas MacArthur

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

- Winston Churchill

"The brave man inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his Country, than the coward who deserts her in the hour of danger."

- General Andrew Jackson

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

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"In any fight, it's the first blow that counts; and if you keep it up hot enough, you can whip 'em as fast as they come up."

- General Richard Ewell

"Get there first with the most men."

- General Nathan Bedford Forrest

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

- George S. Patton

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

- Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller

"What enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge."

- Sun Tzu

"No one will consider the day as ended, until the duties it brings have been discharged."

- General William G. Rosecrans

"Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all."

- George Washington

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

- General Alexander A. Vandergrift

"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

"I will hold."

- First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates

"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

"Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking."

- Ferdinand Foch

"Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don’t have that problem."

- Ronald Reagan

"Discipline is the soul of an army."

- George Washington

"Without a word this uniform also whispers of freezing troops, injured bodies, and Americans left forever in foreign fields. It documents every serviceman’s courage, who by accepting this uniform, promises the one gift he truly has to give: his life. I wear my uniform for the heritage of sacrifice it represents and more. I wear my uniform with pride, for it represents the greatest nation of free people in the world."

- Captain Karen Dorman Kimmel

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

- General Bruce D. Clark

"I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor food; I offer only hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles, and death. Let him who loves his country with his heart, and not merely with his lips, follow me."

- Giuseppe Garibaldi

"The badge of rank which an officer wears on his coat is really a symbol of servitude — servitude to his men."

- General Maxwell D. Taylor

"The Eleventh Corps, as a corps, has done well - well in marching, well in fighting; the sacrifices it has made shall not be forgotten."

- J. J. Moulton

"Charge them both ways."

- General Nathan Bedford Forrest

"Promptness is the greatest of military virtues, evincing, as it does, zeal, energy, and discipline."

- General George Pickett

"From time to time, the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots."

- Thomas Jefferson

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse."

- John Stuart Mill

"Now I recall the Recon Marines ragged, filthy cammie shirted young men in green paint who move silent like the fog with deadly purpose in their eyes. Swift, Silent, Deadly. I smile."

- GYSGT Correll, USMC, Retired– Recon Marine

"War's legitimate object is more perfect peace."

- General William T. Sherman

"In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten; then he who continues the attack wins."

- General Ulysses S. Grant

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

- General (Retired) Ann Dunwoody

"Soldiers are men…most apt for all manner of services and best able to support and endure the infinite toils and continual hazards of war."

- Henry Knyvett

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

- Joseph Campbell

"Be convinced that to be happy means to be free and that to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war."

- Thucydides

"Get the hell off the beach. Get up and get moving. Follow me."

- Colonel Audrey S. Newman

"Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war."

- Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

"I will inspire my command, troops during the campaign if successful, with the feeling against Atlanta as expressed that beef and salt are all that is necessary to life, and that parched corn once fed General Jackson's army on that very ground."

- General William T. Sherman

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

- British Special Air Service (SAS)

"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

"The American soldier demonstrated that, properly equipped, trained and led, he has no superior among all the armies of the world."

- General Mark W. Clark

"They (Women Marines) don't have a nickname, and they don't need one. They get their basic training in a Marine atmosphere, at a Marine Post. They inherit the traditions of the Marines. They are Marines."

- Lieutenant General Thomas Holcomb

"To spend a few minutes with people is simply not productive. If one wants to get anything across, one has to spend a fairly large minimum quantum of time. The manager who thinks that he can discuss the plans, direction, and performance of one of his subordinates in fifteen minutes – and many managers believe this – is just deceiving himself. If one wants to get to the point of having an impact, one needs probably at least an hour and usually more. And if one has to establish a human relationship, one needs infinitely more time."

- Peter F. Drucker

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

- Archilochus

"War is cruelty. There’s no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over."

- William Tecumseh Sherman

"For every day of training in peacetime, we may save weeks and months of war."

- Secretary Of War Robert P. Patterson

"I contend that fortitude in war has its roots in morality; that selection is a search for character and that war itself is but one more test— the supreme and final test if you will—of character."

- Lord Moran

"The most powerful influence for peace today is the spiritual force exerted by a strong nation of free peoples who have the will to remain free and who are determined to assist free men everywhere in protecting their cherished freedoms."

- General Manton S. Eddy

"Once you pick up the burden of leadership, you can never put it down again as long as you live. Sergeant or general, we all carry the same load."

- General Jacob L. Devers

"Soldiers usually win the battles and generals get the credit for them."

- Napoleon Bonaparte

"A man has integrity if his interest in the good of the service is at all times greater than his personal pride, and when he holds himself to the same line of duty when unobserved as he would follow if his superiors were present."

- General S.L.A. Marshall

"A man does not have himself killed for a half-pence a day or for a petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify him."

- Napoleon Bonaparte

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

- George Orwell

"The ‘eathen in ‘is blindness must end where ‘e began. But the backbone of the Army is the non-commissioned man!"

- Rudyard Kipling

"A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living."

- John F. Kennedy

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

- Bo Brabo

"In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it."

- Field Marshall Erwin Rommel

"The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."

- Charles George Gordon

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

- Bob Riley

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

- Nick Lampson

"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

"Success is peace of mind that is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

- Coach John Wooden

"Who you are on a daily basis is who you are when you compete. If you want to be a champion, you have to have the mindset of a champion every day."

- Jerry Ingalls

"Leaders must be seen to be up front, up to date, up to their job and up early in the morning."

- Marcus Sieff

"The real issues are whether the power of Western civilization, as God has permitted it to flower in our own beloved lands, shall defy and defeat Communism; whether the rule of men who shoot their prisoners, enslave their citizens, and deride the dignity of man, shall displace the rule of those to whom the individual and his individual rights are sacred."

- General Douglas MacArthur

"If you’re never satisfied with what you have achieved, you’re never going to be satisfied with what you do achieve."

- Chris LoCurto

"The friend of my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity."

- Ulysses S. Grant

"To be pleased with one’s limits is a wretched state."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Happiness is found not in doing what one likes to do, but in liking what one has to do."

- Sir James M. Barrie

"I must study politics and war, that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy…in order to give their children the right to study painting, poetry, and music."

- John Adams

"There are three kinds of people: Those who are immovable, those who are moveable, and those who move them."

- Li Hung

"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

"When you act on your priority, you’ll automatically go out of balance, giving more time to one thing over another."

- Gary Keller

"Plan the flight and fly the plan, but don’t fall in love with the plan. Be open to a changing world and let go of the plan when necessary so that you can make a new plan."

- Laurence Gonzales

"Discipline is simply the art of making the soldiers fear their officers more than the enemy."

- Helvetius

"Those who gain experience while retaining a firm hold on a beginner’s state of mind become long term survivors."

- Laurence Gonzales

"I don’t know whether this is the best of times or the worst of times, but I assure you it’s the only time you’ve got."

- Art Buchwald

"Every hour be firmly resolved…to accomplish the work at hand with fitting and unaffected dignity, goodwill, freedom, justice."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Be selective about whom you take on as friends, colleagues, and neighbors. The world is full of agreeable and talented folk. The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best."

- Epictetus

"Opportunity is missed by most because is it dressed in overalls and looks like work."

- Thomas Edison

"We need to learn to set our course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship."

- Omar Bradley

"We are defined by what we do repeatedly, therefore excellence is a habit, not an act."

- Aristotle

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

- The Kohima Epitaph

"An alert soldier is an alive soldier."

- General Willston B. Palmer

"I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight!"

- General Maxwell D. Taylor

"To win battles you do not beat weapons -- you beat the soul of man of the enemy man."

- General George S. Patton

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

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The good general is simply the good company commander in his post-graduate course. The idea that more godlike qualities are required of him and that he above others can achieve miracles through the working of his will is dismissed as idle superstition."

- S.L.A. Marshall

"Army: A body of men assembled to rectify the mistakes of the diplomats."

- Josephus Daniels

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

- Admiral David D. Porter, USN

"Diplomats are just as essential in starting a war as soldiers are in finishing it."

- Will Rogers

"We make war that we may live in peace."

- Aristotle

"It is well that war is so terrible, else we should grow too fond of it."

- General Robert E. Lee

"The number of medals on an officer’s breast varies in inverse proportion to the square of the distance of his duties from the front line."

- Charles Edward Montague

"We do not seek peace in order to be at war, but we go to war that we may have peace. Be peaceful, therefore, in warring, so that you may vanquish those whom you war against, and bring them to the prosperity of peace."

- St. Augustine

"Being in the army is like being in the Boy Scouts, except that the Boy Scouts have adult supervision."

- Blake Clark

"Always forgive your enemies–nothing annoys them so much."

- Oscar Wilde

"Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier."

- Samuel Johnson

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

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power."

"A lack of planning on your part does not constitute a crisis on mine…unless of course I failed to lead you."

"The majority of men devote the greater part of their lives to making their remaining years unhappy."

"Some succeed because they are destined to; most succeed because they are determined to."

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

"A soldier is he whose blood makes the glory of the general."

"I shall fight the thing out, or die in the attempt; I am not generally very free to pitch in; but I am awful to hang on."

"The intensity of your desire to acquire any special ability depends on character, or ambition."