Soldier

Explore 32 quotes by Soldiers

One more such victory over the Romans and we are lost.

Pyrrhus

Quoted in Plutarch's Lives, by Plutarch

On the defeat of the Romans at Asculum, 279 BC, a battle in which his army suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Romans.

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More information about this quote

Topic

Pyrrhic victory Victory

Speaker

Pyrrhus

Author

Plutarch

Source

Plutarch's Lives

Genre

Biography

Statement Type

Paradox Prophecies and predictions

Language

Greek

Time

279 BC 270s BC 3rd century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Pyrrhus. Quoted in "Pyrrhus." Parallel Lives by Plutarch. c. 2nd century BC, ch. 21, sect. 9.

Current Citation

Pyrrhus. Quoted in "Pyrrhus." Parallel Lives by Plutarch. Oxford University Press, 2009, ch. 21, sect. 9.

Remember the Alamo!

Sidney Sherman

More information about this quote

Topic

Texas

Speaker

Sidney Sherman

Statement Type

Orders and commands

Language

English

Time

1836 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Sherman, Sidney. Battle cry at San Jacinto. 21 Apr. 1836, San Jacinto, TX, USA.

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen

Dulce et Decorum Est

A Latin phrase, originally from Horace's Odes, meaning "it is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland."

Read Dulce et Decorum Est at Poetry Foundation

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Topic

Dying for one's country Self-sacrifice Patriotism War

Author

Wilfred Owen

Source

Dulce et Decorum Est

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1918 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Owen, Wilfred. "Dulce et Decorum Est." Poems by Wilfred Owen. Chatto & Windus, 1920.

Current Citation

Owen, Wilfred. "Dulce et Decorum Est." The War Poems Of Wilfred Owen. Random House UK, 2018.

In war, indeed, there can be no substitute for victory.

Douglas MacArthur

More information about this quote

Topic

War

Speaker

Douglas MacArthur

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

MacArthur, Douglas. Address to a Joint Meeting of Congress. House of Representatives. 19 Apr. 1951, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.

Douglas MacArthur

More information about this quote

Topic

Going to war Military strategy

Speaker

Douglas MacArthur

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1952 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

MacArthur, Douglas. Keynote address at the Republican National Convention. Republican National Convention. 7 July 1952, International Amphitheatre, Chicago, IL, USA.

My center is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am attacking.

Ferdinand Foch

More information about this quote

Topic

Aggression Battle

Speaker

Ferdinand Foch

Language

French

Time

1914 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Foch, Ferdinand. Message sent during the first Battle of the Marne. 8 Sept. 1914.

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen

Dulce et Decorum Est

Read Dulce et Decorum Est at Poetry Foundation

More information about this quote

Topic

Horrors of war War

Author

Wilfred Owen

Source

Dulce et Decorum Est

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Owen, Wilfred. "Dulce et Decorum Est." Poems by Wilfred Owen. Chatto & Windus, 1920.

Current Citation

Owen, Wilfred. "Dulce et Decorum Est." The War Poems Of Wilfred Owen. Random House UK, 2018.

Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war let it begin here!

John Parker

More information about this quote

Topic

American Revolution

Speaker

John Parker

Language

English

Time

1775 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Parker, John. To his Minute Men at Lexington, Massachusetts. Battle of Lexington. 19 Apr. 1775, Lexington Green, Lexington, MA, USA.

A gay Vietnam veteran... They gave me a medal for killing two men-and a discharge for loving one.

Leonard Matlovich

Inscription on his tombstone.

More information about this quote

Topic

Gay rights The military

Author

Leonard Matlovich

Medium

Epitaph Inscription

Language

English

Time

1988 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Matlovich, Leonard. Inscription on tombstone. 1988.

Eternal peace is a dream, and not even a beautiful one, and war is a link in God's world order. In him, the noblest virtues of man, courage and renunciation, devotion to duty and willingness to sacrifice, unfold with the institution of life. Without the war, the world would become bogged down in materialism.

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

More information about this quote

Topic

Praise of war War

Author

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

Medium

Letter

Language

German

Time

1880 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Von Moltke, Helmuth. Letter to Johann Caspar Bluntschli. 11 Dec. 1880.

The history of failure in war can almost be summed up in two words: too late.

Douglas MacArthur

More information about this quote

Topic

Military strategy War

Speaker

Douglas MacArthur

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

MacArthur, Douglas. Statement on aid to Great Britain. 16 Sept. 1940.

Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: "Do not march on Moscow"...[Rule 2] is: "Do not go fighting with your land armies in China."

Bernard Montgomery

More information about this quote

Topic

Military strategy War

Speaker

Bernard Montgomery

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Montgomery, Bernard Law. Speech in House of Lords. 30 May 1962, Palace of Westminster, London, England, UK.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

John McCrae

In Flanders Fields

Read In Flanders Fields at Poetry Foundation

More information about this quote

Topic

World War I

Author

John McCrae

Source

In Flanders Fields

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1915 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

McCrae, John. "In Flanders Fields." Punch, 8 Dec. 1915.

Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight on to the end.

Douglas Haig

More information about this quote

Topic

World War I No surrender War

Author

Douglas Haig

Source

Special Order of the Day

Language

English

Time

1918 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Haig, Douglas. "Special Order of the Day." 11 Apr. 1918, Great Britain, UK.

You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.

William Tecumseh Sherman

More information about this quote

Topic

Horrors of war War American Civil War

Author

William Tecumseh Sherman

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sherman, William Tecumseh. Letter to Mayor James M. Calhoun and E. E. Rawson and S. C. Wells. 12 Sept. 1864.

Current Citation

Sherman, William Tecumseh. Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman, 1860-1865. University of North Carolina Press, 1999, ch. 12.

Who has knowledge of what is to be dreaded and what is not—the man whom I call courageous?

Nicias

Quoted in Laches, by Plato

More information about this quote

Topic

Courage vs. fear Courage

Speaker

Nicias

Author

Plato

Source

Laches

Medium

Philosophical dialogue Dialogue

Statement Type

Definition

Language

Greek

Time

380 BC 380s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nicias. Quoted in Λάχης [Laches], written by Plato. c. 348 BC, sect. 195d.

Current Citation

Nicias. Quoted in "Laches." Plato: Complete Works, edited by John M. Cooper and D. S. Hutchinson. Hackett Publishing, 1997, sect. 195d.

A desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy.

Guy Fawkes

More information about this quote

Topic

Radicalism Extreme measures

Speaker

Guy Fawkes

Language

English

Time

1605 1600s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Fawkes, Guy. The Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 6, Oxford University Press, 1917.

I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected.

William Tecumseh Sherman

More information about this quote

Topic

American Presidency

Author

William Tecumseh Sherman

Medium

Telegram

Language

English

Time

1884 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sherman, William Tecumseh. Telegram to General Henderson. 1884.

We are not only fighting hostile armies, but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war.

William Tecumseh Sherman

More information about this quote

Topic

American Civil War Military strategy

Author

William Tecumseh Sherman

Source

Letter to Henry W. Halleck

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sherman, William Tecumsch. Letter to Henry W. Halleck. 24 Dec. 1864.

Current Citation

Sherman, William Tecumsch. Memoirs of General William Tecumseh Sherman. Vol. 2, Penguin Classics, 2000, ch. 21.

War is the remedy our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.

William Tecumseh Sherman

More information about this quote

Topic

American Civil War

Author

William Tecumseh Sherman

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sherman, William Tecumseh. Letter to James Guthrie. 14 Aug. 1864.