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Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don't have that problem.
I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world!
The battle of Iwo Jima has been won. Among the Americans who served on Iwo, uncommon valor was a common virtue.
The man who will go where his colors will go, without asking, who will fight a phantom foe in a jungle and mountain range, without counting, and who will suffer and die in the midst of incredible hardship, without complaint, is still what he has always been, from Imperial Rome to sceptered Britain to Democratic America. He is the stuff of which legions are made. His pride is his colors and his regiment, his training hard and thorough and coldly realistic, to fit him for what he must face, and his obedience is to his orders. As a legionary, he held the gates of civilization for the classical world...he has been called United States Marine.
Marines are about the most peculiar breed of human beings I have ever witnessed. They treat their service as if it was some kind of cult, plastering their emblem on almost everything they own, making themselves up to look like insane fanatics with haircuts to ungentlemanly lengths, worshipping their Commandant almost as if he was a god, and making weird animal noises like a band of savages. They'll fight like rabid dogs at the drop of a hat just for the sake of a little action, and are the cockiest SOB's I have ever known. Most have the foulest mouths and drink well beyond man's normal limits, but their high spirits and sense of brotherhood set them apart and , generally speaking, of the United States Marines I've come in contact with, are the most professional soldiers and the finest men I have had the pleasure to meet.
Old breed? New breed? There's not a damn bit of difference so long as it's the Marine breed.
The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle!
The more Marines I have around the better I like it!
You don't hurt 'em if you don't hit 'em.
Being ready is not what matters. What matters is winning after you get there.
I still need Marines who can shoot and salute. But I need Marines who can fix jet engines and man sophisticated radar sets, as well.
Come on you bastards, do you want to live forever?
To ERR is human, to FORGIVE divine. HOWEVER, neither is Marine Corps Policy.
The Marines have landed, and the situation is well in hand.
This will be the bloodiest fight in Marine Corps history. We'll catch seven kinds of hell on the beaches, and that will be just the beginning. The fighting will be fierce, and the casualties will be awful, but my Marines will take the damned island. (concerning the upcoming attack on Iwo Jima)
Victory was never in doubt. Its cost was...What was in doubt, in all our minds, was whether there would be any of us left to dedicate our cemetery at the end, or whether the last Marine would die knocking out the last Japanese gun and gunner. (In reference to the Battle of Iwo Jima)
The raising of that flag means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years. (concerning the flag raising at Mt. Suribachi)
A ship without Marines is like a garment without buttons.
Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency: we are winning!
I can never again see a United States Marine without experiencing a feeling of reverence.
We're not retreating, Hell! We're just attacking in different direction!
We have two companies of Marines running all over this island and thousands of Army troops doing nothing!
Retreat hell! We just got here!
The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines. LORD, how they could fight!
Panic sweeps my men when they are facing the American Marines.
