We know that in tough times, cynicism is just another way to give up, and in the military, we consider cynicism or giving up simply as forms of cowardice.

My decision to register women confirms what is already obvious throughout our society-that women are now providing all types of skills in every profession. The military should be no exception.

The United States tyrannizes and pillages the globalized world with its political, economic, technological, and military might.

Neither the Army nor the Navy is of any protection, or very little protection, against aerial raids.

When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred.

Policy makers who have never served in the military continue to use the military to lead social change in this country.

We’re so immaturely cynical as a culture. We’re not wise enough to look at an institution like marriage and to really things about what it means and what it signifies. It signifies a place where people can tie the ropes of their lives together so that they’re stronger. It signifies a place where people can tell the truth to one another.

We did not raise armies for glory or for conquest.

I like quips. I like whiffs of cynicism and I think they can be witty. But I don’t really know where wittiness is constructive.

You can always tell an old soldier by the inside of his holsters and cartridge boxes. The young ones carry pistols and cartridges; the old ones, grub.

The military can buy our diplomats some time.

There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.

I was a Marine for 41 years, and it wasn’t long enough. We enjoy putting on that uniform.

Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.

Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.

The Marine Corps is the Navy’s police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin’s.

To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill.

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.

There is no room for military people, including our veterans, to see themselves as victims, even if so many of our countrymen are prone to relish that role.

Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.

When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war.

What I’m asking for is hard. It’s easier to be cynical; to accept that change isn’t possible, and politics is hopeless, and to believe that our voices and actions don’t matter. But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future.

The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise.

The sergeant is the Army.

SEALs are human beings. We may all have the same haircuts, but we aren’t robots. Some SEALs are great people. Some are not great people. Some have done unspeakably terrible things. You’re dealing with different people, different dreams, different desires.

Fear has its use but cowardice has none.

Blacks have had to learn to protect themselves by being cynical but not cynical enough to slam the door on potential opportunities. We go through life walking a tightrope to prevent too much disillusionment.

In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?

Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.

The United States never lost a war or won a conference.

I don’t think the war in Afghanistan was ruthlessly enough waged.

I would storm the gates of Hell if Third Marine Air Wing was overhead.

The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it.

I can make more generals, but horses cost money.

Giving back involves a certain amount of giving up.

The coward only threatens when he is safe.

We give speeches and pin ribbons onto uniforms, etch names into walls. And all that is fine, but too often, all those tributes, all those words aren’t always backed up by action. And that felt like such a stark contrast to me, because, as we all know, our military is all about action.

I am the commander in chief of the United States armed forces, and Iraq is gonna have to ultimately provide for its own security.

Waking up early was the first example I noticed in the SEAL Teams in which discipline was really the difference between being good and being exceptional.

My mom and I have always been there for each other. We had some tough times, but she was always there for me.

A private soldier has as much right to justice as a major-general.

Nothing can be more hurtful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army the superiority over another.

No other country in the world does what we do. On every issue, the world turns to us, not simply because of the size of our economy or our military might – but because of the ideals we stand for, and the burdens we bear to advance them.

I did 20 years in the Navy. I joined the Navy right out of high school and went through Navy boot camp, went to SEAL training, got done with that, and then showed up at a SEAL team, where I did 20 years. That was pretty much my whole adult life.

War – An act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will.

I think with the Romans, that the general of today should be a soldier tomorrow if necessary.

One of the good things about the way the Gulf War ended in 1991 is, you’d see the Vietnam veterans marching with the Gulf War veterans.

The British soldier can stand up to anything except the British War Office.

War is the continuation of politics by other means.

Learned helplessness is the giving-up reaction, the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn’t matter.

Most people know nobody in the military.

When trouble breaks out, our men and women in uniform, they don’t just sit around thinking about it or talking about it – they act. They put on that uniform. They leave their loved ones behind. They go out there. They give orders. They follow orders. They do whatever it takes to keep our country safe.

I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world!

A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.

In this age, I don’t care how tactically or operationally brilliant you are: if you cannot create harmony – even vicious harmony – on the battlefield based on trust across service lines, across coalition and national lines, and across civilian/military lines, you need to go home, because your leadership is obsolete.

Humor is the most engaging cowardice.

If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business, because we’d be cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.

Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation – not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago.

Gulf Lesson One is the value of airpower.

I think I hate cynicism more than anything else. It’s the curse of our age, and I want to avoid it at all costs.

The United States is afraid of China; it is not a military threat to anyone and is the least aggressive of all the major military powers.