Random Marine Corps Quotes

"I can't say enough about the two Marine divisions. If I use words like brilliant, it would really be an under-description of the absolutely superb job they did in breaching the so-called impenetrable barrier. . .Absolutely superb operation, a textbook, and I think it'll be studied for many, many years to come as the way to do it." - General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 27 February 1991.

"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!" ~ Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States, 1945

“The boys we took from the farm, the factory, the school, and the office became the best amphibious troops in the world.”  — Gen. Holland M. Smith

“Where they are going isn’t the Marines’ concern. Their business is to be always ready to go.”  ~  Harper’s Weekly, 1912

"They told (us) to open up the Embassy, or "we'll blow you away." And then they looked up and saw the Marines on the roof with these really big guns, and they said in Somali, "Igaralli ahow" which means "Excuse me, I didn't mean it, my mistake"." ~ Karen Aquilar, in the U.S. Embassy; Mogadishu, Somalia, 1991

"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. " ~ Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, U.S. Navy

"Retreat, hell we just got here!" ~ Captain Lloyd Williams, USMC at the Battle of Belleau Wood WWI

"A ship without Marines is like a garment without buttons." ~ Admiral David D. Porter, USN

"You cannot exaggerate about the Marines. They are convinced to the point of arrogance, that they are the most ferocious fighters on earth- and the amusing thing about it is that they are." ~ Father Kevin Keaney |1st Marine Division Chaplain

“The more Marines I have around, the better I like it.”  — U.S. Army Gen. Mark Clark | World War II, Korean War