Courtesy of Marine Corps Association & Foundation
We make generals today on the basis of their ability to write a damned letter. Those kinds of men can’t get us ready for war.
LtGen Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller
I am They.
Gen Louis H. Wilson, 26th CMC
Being ready is not what matters. What matters is winning after you get there.
LtGen Victor H. Krulak to a Marine unit leaving for Vietnam, April 1965
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.
LtGen Thomas Holcomb, 17th CMC, 1943
The bended knee is not a tradition of our Corps.
LtGen A. A. Vandegrift, 18th CMC
The Marine Corps went from 15,000, which its strength was when I was Commandant, to approximately 400,000 when I retired, and more than that afterward, without losing its individual characteristics. It was the same Marine Corps. It was not different in any respect.
Gen Thomas Holcomb, 17th CMC
If the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eaton, the Japanese bases in the Pacific were captured on the beaches of the Caribbean.
LtGen H. M. “Howlin’ Mad” Smith 1949
Fleets cannot operate without bases.
MajGen John A. Lejeune 13th CMC, 13 March 1920
I served in all commissioned ranks from second lieutenant to major general. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for big business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.
MajGen Smedley D. Butler, 1933
Any officer can get by on his sergeants. To be a sergeant you have to know your stuff. I’d rather be an outstanding sergeant than just another officer.
SgtMaj Daniel Daly 1873-1937
