The deadliest weapon in the world is a MARINE and his rifle!
— John J. Pershing
Controversy Marine Corps quotations
The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!
Why in hell can't the Army do it if the Marines can.
They are the same kind of men; why can't they be like Marines.
We've backed off in good faith to try and give you a chance to straighten this problem out. But I am going to beg with you for a minute. I'm going to plead with you, do not cross us. Because if you do, the survivors will write about what we do here for 10,000 years.
They're on our right, they're on our left, they're in front of us, they're behind us; they can't get away from us this time.
Leadership is the sum of those qualities of intellect, human understanding, and moral character that enables a person to inspire and control a group of people successfully.
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.
The Marines don't have any race problems. They treat everybody like they're black.
...Since 1775 the United States Marines have upheld a fine tradition of service to their country. They are doing so today. I am confident they will continue to do so.
...We are intensely proud of their noble record and are glad to have had the whole world see how irresistible they are in their might when a cause which America holds dear is at stake. The whole nation has reason to be proud of them.
If you're from New York and you're Catholic, you're still Jewish.
If you're from Butte Montana and you're Jewish, you're still goyisch. The Air Force is Jewish, the Marine Corps dangerous goyisch. Rye Bread is Jewish, instant potatoes, scary goyisch. Eddie Cantor is goyisch, George Jessel is goyisch-Coleman Hawkins is Jewish.
By their victory, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the Fifth Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully. Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue.
You are part of the world's most feared and trusted force.
Engage your brain before you engage your weapon.
I earned my stripes as a Marine, and the Corps gets full credit for straightening me out. At 17, I was young, I was unhappy and most of all, I was undisciplined. The Marine Corps was the right service in the right place at the right time.
The Marine Corps has just been called by the New York Times, 'The elite of this country.' I think it is the elite of the world.
So they've got us surrounded, good! Now we can fire in any direction, those b*****ds won't get away this time!
Old breed? New breed? There's not a damn bit of difference so long as it's the Marine breed.
Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency; we are winning.
The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years.
For over 221 years our Corps has done two things for this great Nation.
We make Marines, and we win battles.
Being ready is not what matters. What matters is winning after you get there.
Tell that to the Marines!
Your Marines having been under my command for nearly six months, I feel that I can give you a discriminating report as to their excellent standing with their brothers of the army and their general good conduct.
A Marine should be sworn to the patient endurance of hardships, like the ancient knights; and it is not the least of these necessary hardships to have to serve with sailors.
Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.
I selected an enormous Marine Corps emblem to be tattooed across my chest.
It required several sittings and hurt me like the devil, but the finished product was worth the pain. I blazed triumphantly forth, a Marine from throat to waist. The emblem is still with me. Nothing on earth but skinning will remove it.
It's a funny thing, but, as years go by, I think you appreciate more and more what a great thing it was to be a United States Marine... People will tell me what a shame it was I had to go back into the service a second time, but I'm kinda glad I did.. Besides, I am a U.S. Marine and I'll be one till I die.
I've always been proud of being a Marine. I won't hesitate to defend the Corps.
I want to go where the guns are!
We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem!
Without discipline, there is no Marine Corp.
The future success of the Marine Corps depends on two factors: first, an efficient performance of all duties to which its officers and men may be assigned; second, promptly bringing this efficiency to the attention of the proper officials of the government, and the American people.
We are all members of the same great family .
.. On social occasions the formality of strictly military occasions should be relaxed, and a spirit of friendliness and goodwill should prevail.
And once by God, I was a Marine!
Men do not fight for flag or country, for the Marine Corps or glory or any other abstraction. They fight for one another. And if you came through this ordeal, you would age with dignity.
We go forward with our heads held high, but look back and remember where we come from.
Ensure that no Marine who honorably wore the eagle, globe and anchor is lost to the Marine Corps family.
We are United States Marines, and for two and a quarter centuries we have defined the standards of courage, esprit, and military prowess.
Every Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman. All other conditions are secondary.
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.
The Marines have landed and the situation is well in hand.
My four years in the Marine Corps left me with an indelible understanding of the value of leadership skills.
I'm going to fight my way out, I'm going to take all my equipment and all my wounded and as many dead as I can. If we can't get out this way, this Division will never fight as a unit again.
The Marines fought almost solely on esprit de corps, I was certain.
It was inconceivable to most Marines that they should let another Marine down, or that they could be responsible for dimming the bright reputation of their Corps. The Marines simply assumed that they were the world's best fighting men.
The male role models I had all seemed to have been in the military. My father served in the army. My uncle was in the Marine Corps. Both of my grandfathers served in WWII. There weren't any career soldiers in my family, but when I was young it seemed like a way of arriving at adulthood.