Quotes about army and navy

"There is something about going to sea. A little bit of discipline, self-discipline and humility are required."

Andrew, Prince on army and navy   

"We have in the service the scum of the earth as common soldiers."

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington on army and navy   

"I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they terrify me."

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington on army and navy   

"Valor, glory, firmness, skill, generosity, steadiness in battle and ability to rule -- these constitute the duty of a soldier. They flow from his own nature."

Bhagavad Gita on army and navy
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"How happy is the sailor's life, from coast to coast to roam; in every port he finds a wife, in every land a home."

Bickerstaffe, Isaac on army and navy   

"Admiral. That part of a warship which does the talking while the figurehead does the thinking."

Bierce, Ambrose on army and navy   

"The Royal Navy of England hath ever been its greatest defense and ornament; it is its ancient and natural strength; the floating bulwark of the island."

Blackstone, Sir William on army and navy   

"The greatest general is he who makes the fewest mistakes."

Bonaparte, Napoleon on army and navy   

"If I should die, think only this of me: that there's some corner of a foreign field that is for ever England."

Brooke, Rupert on army and navy   

"In the weakness of one kind of authority, and in the fluctuation of all, the officers of an army will remain for some time mutinous and full of faction, until some popular general, who understands the art of conciliating the soldiery, and who possesses the true spirit of command, shall draw the eyes of all men upon himself. Armies will obey him on his personal account. There is no other way of securing military obedience in this state of things."

Burke, Edmund on army and navy   

"What makes a regiment of soldiers a more noble object of view than the same mass of mob? Their arms, their dresses, their banners, and the art and artificial symmetry of their position and movements."

Byron, Lord on army and navy   

"The General Order is always to maneuver in a body and on the attack; to maintain strict but not pettifogging discipline; to keep the troops constantly at the ready; to employ the utmost vigilance on sentry go; to use the bayonet on every possible occasion; and to follow up the enemy remorselessly until he is utterly destroyed."

Carnot, Lazare on army and navy   

"Soldiers have many faults, but they have one redeeming merit; they are never worshippers of force. Soldiers more than any other men are taught severely and systematically that might is not right. The fact is obvious. The might is in the hundred men who obey. The right (or what is held to be right) is in the one man who commands them."

Chesterton, Gilbert K. on army and navy   

"The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash. "

Churchill, Winston on army and navy
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"War is too important a matter to be left to the military."

Clemenceau, Georges on army and navy   

"There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea."

Conrad, Joseph on army and navy   

"The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten."

Coolidge, Calvin on army and navy
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"I had rather have a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call a Gentle-man and is nothing else."

Cromwell, Oliver on army and navy   

"Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?"

Daly, Daniel on army and navy   

"I must have the gentleman to haul and draw with the mariner, and the mariner with the gentleman. I would know him, that would refuse to set his hand to a rope, but I know there is not any such here."

Drake, Sir Francis on army and navy   

"Drinking is the soldier's pleasure."

Dryden, John on army and navy   

"The wonder is always new that any sane man can be a sailor."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on army and navy   

"The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on army and navy   

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"Rogues, would you live forever?"

Frederick The Great, (Frederick II) on army and navy   

"The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature."

Gibbon, Edward on army and navy   

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"We are as near to heaven by sea as by land."

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey on army and navy   

"Conscription may have been good for the country, but it damn near killed the army."

Hull, Sir Richard on army and navy   

"Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea."

Johnson, Samuel on army and navy   

"No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned. A man in a jail has more room, better food and commonly better company."

Johnson, Samuel on army and navy   

"Now, you mummy's darlings, get a rift on them boots. Definitely shine em, my little curly-headed lambs, for in our mob, war or no war, you die with clean boots on."

Kersh, Gerald on army and navy   

"When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier."

Kipling, Rudyard on army and navy   

"Children play soldier. That makes sense. But why do soldiers play children?"

Kraus, Karl on army and navy   

"There were gentlemen and there were seamen in the navy of Charles the Second. But the seamen were not gentlemen; and the gentlemen were not seamen."

Macaulay, Thomas B. on army and navy   

"Do you know what a soldier is, young man? He's the chap who makes it possible for civilized folk to despise war."

Massie, Allan on army and navy
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"No profession or occupation is more pleasing than the military; a profession or exercise both noble in execution (for the strongest, most generous and proudest of all virtues is true valor) and noble in its cause. No utility either more just or universal than the protection of the repose or defense of the greatness of one's country. The company and daily conversation of so many noble, young and active men cannot but be well-pleasing to you."

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De on army and navy   

"The army is the true nobility of our country."

Napoleon III on army and navy   

"The military mind is indeed a menace. Old-fashioned futurity that sees only men fighting and dying in smoke and fire; hears nothing more civilized than a cannonade; scents nothing but the stink of battle-wounds and blood."

O'Casey, Sean on army and navy   

"'Tis the soldier's life to have their balmy slumbers waked with strife."

Shakespeare, William on army and navy
3 fans of this quote   

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be never so vile. This day shall gentle his condition. And gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

Shakespeare, William on army and navy
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"History shows that there are no invincible armies."

Stalin, Joseph on army and navy