Tag: Marine Corps Association & Foundation

Quotes January 25, 2019

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

Quotes January 04, 2019

Courtesy of Marine Corps Association & Foundation


 
 
For over 221 years our Corps has done two things for this great Nation. We make Marines and we win battles.
Gen Charles C. Krulak, 31st CMC, 5 May 1997
 
 
 
 
Every Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman. All other conditions are secondary.
Gen. A. M. Gray, 29th CMC
 
 
 
 
A Marine is a Marine. I set that policy two weeks ago – there’s no such thing as a former Marine. You’re a Marine, just in a different uniform and you’re in a different phase of your life. But you’ll always be a Marine because you went to Parris Island, San Diego or the hills of Quantico. There’s no such thing as a former Marine.
General James F. Amos, 35th CMC
 
 
 
 
Gone to Florida to fight the Indians. Will be back when the war is over.
Commandant Col Archibald Henderson, 5th CMC, on a note pinned to his office door, 1836
 
 
 
 
On board the GANGES, about 12 mos. ago, Lt. Gale, was struck by an Officer of the Navy, the Capt. took no notice of the Business and Gale got no satisfaction on the Cruise; the moment he arrived he call’d the Lieut. out and shot him; afterwards Politeness was restor’d”
Signed “Yr obdt. Svt, W. W. Burrows, LtCol Comdt, MC” (2d CMC)
 
 
 
 
The relation between officers and men should in no sense be that of superior and inferior nor that of master and servant, but rather that of teacher and scholar. In fact, it should partake of the nature of the relation between father and son, to the extent that officers, especially commanding officers, are responsible for the physical, mental, and moral welfare, as well as the discipline and military training of the young men under their command.
MajGen John A. Lejeune, 13th CMC 1929
 
 
 
 
We are United States Marines, and for two and a quarter centuries we have defined the standards of courage, esprit, and military prowess.
Gen James L. Jones, 32nd CMC, 10 Nov 2000
 
 
 
 
There’s no such thing as a crowded battlefield. Battlefields are lonely places.
General Alfred M. Gray, 29th CMC
 
 
 
 
People criticizing the Marines are like the skinny guy trying to kick sand on the muscle guy in a Charles Atlas advertisement.
Gen Louis Wilson, 26th CMC, Norfolk, Va., 1975
 
 
 
 
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.
Gen Robert E. Cushman Jr., 25th CMC, 17 May 1974