100+ Military Quotes About Motivation, Leadership, Training

The Military is always seen as the source of inspiration and hard work by many due to their selflessness and zeal to keep going no matter the magnitude of obstacle they encounter.

Life in the Military presents itself as unfamiliar and scary especially in times when it comes to navigating new situations. Here is a list of some Military quotes about motivation, leadership and training that you need to level up to the next stage.

Military Quotes About Training

• The best form of welfare for the troops is first-rate training -Erwin Rommel

• The aim of military training is not just to prepare men for battle, but to make them long for it – Louis Simpson

• I started to make a study of the art of war and revolution and, whilst abroad, underwent a course in military training. If there was to be guerrilla warfare, I wanted to be able to stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them – Nelson MandelaThe relationship 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 relationship 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. – John A. LejeuneIf 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 JacksonYou cannot prevent a major catastrophe, but you can build an organization that is battle-ready, where people trust one another. In military training, the first rule is to instill soldiers with trust in their officers – because without trust, they won’t fight. – Peter DruckerI’m convinced my cockroaches have military training, I set off a roach bomb – they diffused it. – Jay London

• 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. – Thomas Holcomb

• I’d learned a lot in the Army. I knew that above all things in the world I had to become so big, so strong that people and their hatred could never touch me. – Sammy Davis, Jr.

• Their military training will ensure success in war, but they must maintain unity by not allowing the state to grow to large, and by ensuring that the measures for promotion and demotion from one class to another are carried out. Above all they must maintain the educational system unchanged; for on education everything else depends, and it is an illusion to imagine that mere legislation without it can effect anything of consequence. – PlatoThe military is a very cool world to write about. I went down to Ft. Benning, Ga., for military training, and I learned a lot about soldiers and officers and why they joined up and what their life has been like. – David BaldacciWe negotiated with the Honduran government the establishment of a regional military training center, for training central American forces, but the primary motivation for doing that was to be able to bolster the quality, improve the quality of the El Salvadoran fighting forces. – John Negroponte

• I am an opponent of war and of war preparations and an opponent of universal military training and conscription; but entirely apart from that issue, I hold that segregation in any part of the body politic is an act of slavery and an act of war. – Bayard Rustin

• I would no more teach children military training than teach them arson, robbery, or assassination. – Eugene V. Debs

• I am an opponent of war and of war preparations and an opponent of universal military training and conscription; but entirely apart from that issue, I hold that segregation in any part of the body politic is an act of slavery and an act of war. – Bayard Rustin

• A small country like Israel has compulsory military training. But countries like India, that are so much bigger, have no compulsory military training, so people don’t understand how the military functions. They have no knowledge of how it works, no respect for it. – Gautam Gambhir

• The military is a very cool world to write about. I went down to Ft. Benning, Ga., for military training, and I learned a lot about soldiers and officers and why they joined up and what their life has been like. – David Baldacci

• We negotiated with the Honduran government the establishment of a regional military training center, for training central American forces, but the primary motivation for doing that was to be able to bolster the quality, improve the quality of the El Salvadoran fighting forces. – John Negroponte

• I am an opponent of war and of war preparations and an opponent of universal military training and conscription; but entirely apart from that issue, I hold that segregation in any part of the body politic is an act of slavery and an act of war. – Bayard Rustin

• I started to make a study of the art of war and revolution and, whilst abroad, underwent a course in military training. If there was to be guerrilla warfare, I wanted to be able to stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them. – Nelson Mandela

• I would no more teach children military training than teach them arson, robbery, or assassination. – Eugene V. Debs

• The aim of military training is not just to prepare men for battle, but to make them long for it. – Louis Simpson

• After I graduated from school, I enrolled in the military college, a cadet school. This is the first stage of military training; it instills discipline and various qualities required for military life. – Roman Romanenko

• We find that the Romans owed the conquest of the world to no other cause than continual military training, exact observance of discipline in their camps, and unwearied cultivation of the other arts of war. – Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

• I don’t think I would have written a combat novel if I had just had peacetime military training. I think, in fact, I probably would have remained a poet and just written a short story every now and then. – Joe Haldeman

• Our waterboarding program is based on the U.S. military training program… tens of thousands of U.S. servicemen were waterboarded pursuant to this program to prepare them for the possibility of being captured someday so that they would know what it felt like. -Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr.

• My definition, a definition in the drill books from the time that General Von Steuben wrote the regulations for General George Washington, the definition of the object of military training is success in battle… It wouldn’t be any sense to have a military organization on the backs of the American taxpayers with any other definition. – Chesty Puller

• A military without political training is a potential criminal. – Thomas Sankara

• Military simulation is an important way of training people for an emergency. – Greg Gutfeld

• Almost every profession has an outstanding training ground. The military has West Point, music has Juilliard, and the culinary arts has The Institute. – Craig Claiborne

• If your ethics in the military, in your training, is going to be counterminded by a one-hour weekly television show, we’ve got a really big problem. – Kiefer Sutherland

• Surely the Department of Defense can and needs to do a better job of training new and existing first responders to respond to sexual assaults occurring in the military. – Louise Slaughter

• We find that the Romans owed the conquest of the world to no other cause than continual military training, exact observance of discipline in their camps, and unwearied cultivation of the other arts of war.” -Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

• In a military operation, the command and control elements are a legitimate target. -Stephen Hadley

• I am a Soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight -George S. Patton

• The Army is the true nobility of our country. – Napoleon Bonaparte

• Those who stand for nothing fall for anything. – Alexander Hamilton

• You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice. -Bob Marley

• We live in a world that has walls, and those walls need to be guarded by men with guns. – Aaron Sork

• The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his. -George S. Patton

• We are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free. -Ronald Reagan

• Military glory the attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood -Abraham Lincoln

• Military simulation is an important way of training people for an emergency. -Greg Gutfeld

• I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country -Nathan Hale

• The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. -Thomas Paine

 

Military Quotes About Motivation

• Bravery is a required quote topic in military life. All those who think “I don’t know how you do it” are really thinking, “They are so brave.” Be brave!

• Military quote on bravery: “be brave. take risks. nothing can substitute experience.”Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid. -Franklin P. Jones

• It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. -E.E. Cummings

• It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor. Live bravely and present a brave front to adversity. -Horace

• “The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it. —Thucydides” – Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace

• The best way out is always through. -Robert Frost

• Being brave means knowing that when you fail, you don’t fail forever. -Lana Del Rey

• Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience. -Paulo Coelho

• I don’t lose any sleep at night over the potential for failure. I cannot even spell the word. – Jim Mattis

• Saying good-bye can get old quickly in this military life. But when you say it with a fun or moving quote, it takes on another level.

• military quotes on moving: “there are far better things ahead than we ever leave behind.”Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened. -Dr. Seuss

• You’ve changed me forever. And I’ll never forget you. -Kiera Cass

• There are far better things ahead than we ever leave behind. -C.S. Lewis

• It takes a minute to say hello and forever to say goodbye. -Unknown

• It takes courage for our service members to train and deploy. It also takes courage for us to pack up our houses every few years and start over.

• Military quote on courage: “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

• Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. -Winston S. Churchill

• It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. -E.E. Cummings

• Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. -Maya Angelou

• Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim. -Nora Ephron

• Inspiration comes from a lot of different places, and these quotes are a great place to start when you need a little extra motivation.

• Military spouses find their strength along the way. Everyone began frightened of distance, deployment, and the unknown. -The Seasoned Spouse

• The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart. -The Little Prince

• How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. -A.A. Milne

• She stood in the storm. And when the wind did not blow her way, she adjusted her sails. -Elizabeth Edwards

• Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

• It doesn’t get easier. You just get stronger.

• Anything worth having is worth waiting for.

• A soldier doesn’t fight because he hates what is in front of him. He fights because he loves what he left behind.

Military Quotes About 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

• “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

• Don’t wait to decide: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

• “Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader.” – General George S. Patton

• “Great powers don’t get angry, great powers don’t make decisions hastily in a crisis.” – General John Allen

• “Clarity and simplicity are the antidotes to complexity and uncertainty.”– General George Casey

• “You manage things; you lead people.” – General Colin Powell

• This is another reminder to not be tripped up by the manager title you see after your name. Your career might seem like it is about sales quotas or quarterly goals or units or items, but it is actually about people.

• Don’t lose sight of your team and make sure you listen to them.

• “It is necessary for us to learn from others’ mistakes. You will not live long enough to make them all yourself.” – Admiral Hyman G. Rickover

• “Never give an order that can’t be obeyed.” – General Douglas MacArthur

• “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” – General George S. Patton

• “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” – Theodore Roosevelt

• “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”– Abraham Lincoln

• “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.”– General Dwight D. Eisenhower

• “Leadership is a gift. It’s given by those who follow. You have to be worthy of it.” – General Mark Welsh

• “When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.”– Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States and former Captain in the Illinois state militia during the Black Hawk War.

• “No man has ever listened himself out of a job.”– Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States

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• ”Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”– Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States, and former General of the Army

• “A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him.”– General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur

• “There’s likely a place in paradise for people who tried hard, but what really matters is succeeding. If that requires you to change, that’s your mission.”– General Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Army Retired

• “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”– Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, and former Captain in the Army Reserves

• “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”– Harry S Truman, 33rd President of the United States, and former Colonel in the U.S. Army

• “All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters either. Every single man in this Army play a vital role. Don’t ever let up. Don’t ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain.”– General George S. Patton, U.S. Army

• Whether your team runs a submarine, is fighting on the front lines of World War I, or writes software, it’s important to show respect, care, and loyalty to them. Without it, you won’t get their full buy-in and effort put into their work.

• “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.”– Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, and former U.S. Army Colonel

• “To get the best out of your men, they must feel that you are their real leader and must know that they can depend upon you.”– General of the Armies John J. Pershing, U.S. Army

• “Because the crew was convinced that I was “on their team” there were never any issues with negative criticism… You as a mentor have to establish that you are sincerely interested in the problems of the person you are mentoring.”– Ret. Capt L. David Marquet, US Navy and author, Turn the Ship Around!

• “Always do everything you ask of those you command.”– General George S. Patton, U.S. Army

• ”The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.”— General Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Army

• “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.”– General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur

• “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.“– Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States, and former General of the Army

• ”Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.”– General Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Army

• “Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.”– General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur

• “Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.”– John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, and former Navy Lieutenant

• ”The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.” – George Washington, 1st President of the United States, and Commanding General of the Continental Army

• “The truly great leader overcomes all difficulties, and campaigns and battles are nothing but a long series of difficulties to be overcome. The lack of equipment, the lack of food, the lack of this or that are only excuses; the real leader displays his quality in his triumphs over adversity, however great it may be.”– General of the Army George C Marshall, and former Secretary of State & Secretary of Defense

• ”Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”– Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England during World War II, and former commander in the British Army

• Behind every great success story are equally great challenges they had to overcome.

• “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”– Colin Powell, former U.S. General, Secretary of State, and National Security Advisor

• “Mountaintops inspire leaders, but valleys mature them.”– Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England during World War II, and former commander in the British Army

• “To err is nature, to rectify error is glory.”– George Washington, 1st President of the United States, and Commanding General of the Continental Army

• ”Preparedness is the key to success and victory.” –General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur

• “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”– Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States, and former General of the Army

• “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.”– General Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Army

• “It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.”– Major General William T. Sherman, U.S. Army

• Similarly, this quote from former U.S. Army General Norman Schwarzkopf echoes the desire to strive for peace, fighting only when necessary:

• “Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for.”– General Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Army

• “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” – George S. Patton Jr.

  

Greatest Military Quotes of All Time

• “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” – G.K. Chesterton

• “The only easy day was yesterday.” – US Navy SEALs

• “It is a proud privilege to be a soldier – a good soldier [with]discipline, self-respect, pride in his unit and his country, a high sense of duty and obligation to comrades and to his superiors, and a self-confidence born of demonstrated ability.” – George S. Patton Jr.

• “We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf.” – George Orwell

• “I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: ‘I served in the United States Navy.” – John F. Kennedy

• “For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had a purpose being in the Navy. It wasn’t about money and rank or prestige. It was about raising the flag. We do what we do because no one else can or will do it. We fight so others can sleep at night. And I had forgotten that.” – Timothy Ciciora

• “Heroism doesn’t always happen in a burst of glory. Sometimes small triumphs and large hearts change the course of history.” – Mary Roach

• “You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once.” – Robert A. Heinlein

• “This country has not seen and probably will never know the true level of sacrifice of our veterans. As a civilian, I owe an unpayable debt to all our military. Going forward let’s not send our servicemen and women off to war or conflict zones unless it is overwhelmingly justifiable and on moral high ground.” – Thomas M. Smith

• “War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

• “We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us.” – Winston S. Churchill

• “Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.” – Douglas MacArthur

• “America without her Soldiers would be like God without His angels.” – Claudia Pemberton

• “Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.” – Heraclitus

• “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.” – George S. Patton Jr.

• “War is the greatest evil Satan has invented to corrupt our hearts and souls. We should honor our soldiers, but we should never honor war.”- Dean Hughes

• “It was not about physical strength, Wit reminded himself. It was 90 percent mental, 10 percent physical. That’s what the SEAL instructors were looking for: men and women who could disregard the pleadings of the body. Pain was nothing, sleep was nothing. What was chaffed skin, wrecked muscles, bleeding sores? The body chooses to be sore. The body chooses to be exhausted. But the SEAL mind rejects it. The SEAL mind commands the body, not the other way around.” – Orson Scott Card

• “Today we say goodbye to a proud warrior. As we leave, each of us will take our members of [the USS]Midway with us… you guys were the ‘Magic.’ It was a privilege to sail with you.”John Schork

• “The music at a wedding procession always reminds me of the music of soldiers going into battle.”Heinrich Heine

• “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

• “I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the army. Visiting Kathy’s grave was the less dramatic of the two.”- John Scalzi

• “There is no honor in sending men to die for something you won’t even fight for yourself” – Mark Owen

• “I’m fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.” – George S. McGovern

• “She had been proud of his decision to serve his country, her heart bursting with love and admiration the first time she saw him outfitted in his dress blues. – Nicholas Sparks

• “Kropp, on the other hand, is a thinker. He proposes that a declaration of war should be a kind of popular festival with entrance-tickets and bands, like a bull fight. Then in the arena, the ministers and generals of the two countries, dressed in bathing-drawers and armed with clubs, can have it out on themselves. Whoever survives the country wins. That would be much simpler and more than just this arrangement, where the wrong people do the fighting” – Erich Maria Remarque

• “Hopefully one-day Wars will only be fought in movies. And may the best producer win!” – Stanley Victor Paskavich

• “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.” – Mark Twain

• “A safe army is better than a safe border” – B.R. Ambedkar

• “The reason we call ships ‘she’ is that it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder.” – Chester W. Nimitz

• “The military don’t start wars. Politicians start wars.” – William C. Westmoreland

• “I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.”Douglas MacArthur

• “There were many, many times thereafter that Don regretted having enlisted – but so has every man who ever volunteered for military service.” – Robert A. Heinlein

• “A soldier’s life revolves around his mail. Like many others, I’ve been able to follow my kid’s progress from the day he was born until now he is able to walk and talk a little, and although I have never seen him I know him very well.” – Bill Mauldin

• “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”- Plato

• “We live in a world that has walls and those walls need to be guarded by men with guns.” – Aaron Sorkin

• “America’s finest – our men and women in uniform, are a force for good throughout the world, and that is nothing to apologize for.” – Sarah Palin

• “There has seldom if ever a shortage of eager young males prepared to kill and die to preserve the security, comfort and prejudices of their elders, and what you call heroism is just an expression of this simple fact; there is never a scarcity of idiots.” -Iain Banks

• “Soldiers can sometimes make decisions that are smarter than the orders they’ve been given.” – Orson Scott Card

• “War is life multiplied by some number that no one has ever heard of.” – Sebastian Junger

• “Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.” – Winston S. Churchill

• “Listen up – there’s no war that will end all wars.” – Haruki Murakami

• “And then, when I thought about joining the Air Force, flying seemed like a natural extension of the motorcycling experience. You’re going faster, higher. You’re operating a machine that’s a lot more powerful than you are.” – Duane G. Carey

• “No man is a man until he has been a soldier.”- Louis de Bernières

• “Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.” – Sun Tzu

• “It is fatal to enter a war without the will to win it.” – Douglas MacArthur

• “The day the soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” – Colin Powell

• “Have you ever stopped to ponder the amount of blood spilled, the volume of tears shed, the degree of pain and anguish endured, the number of noble men and women lost in battle so that we as individuals might have a say in governing our country? Honor the lives sacrificed for your freedoms.” – Richelle E. Goodrich

• “When the rich wage war it’s the poor who die.” – Jean-Paul Sartre

• “A command structure that was top-heavy with guys who looked good in uniform and talked right and did well enough not to embarrass themselves, while the really good ones quietly did all the serious work and bailed out their superiors and got blamed for errors they had advised against until they eventually got out. That was the military.”Orson Scott Card

• “Civilians are like beans; you buy ’em as needed for any job which merely requires skill and savvy. But you can’t buy fighting spirit.” – Robert A. Heinlein

• “Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the Gun down.” – Malcolm X

• “This is where people misunderstand war. When you attack another country for its resources, you are the pirate. But when you protect your country from the pirates, you are the hero.” – Suzy Kassem

• “My centre is giving way, my right is in retreat, situation excellent. I attack.” – Ferdinand Foch

• “If I charge, follow me. If I retreat, kill me. If I die, revenge me.” – U.S. Marine Corps

• “War is too important to be left to the generals.” – Georges Clémenceau