“It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past…”

The world has turned over many times since I took the oath on the plain at West Point?but I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular ballads of that day which proclaimed most proudly that old soldiers never die; they just fade away.

By profession I am a soldier and take pride in that fact. But I am prouder – infinitely prouder – to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build; the father only builds, never destroys.

Expect only 5% of an intelligence report to be accurate.The trick of a good commander is to isolate the 5%.

By profession I am a soldier and take great pride in that fact, but I am prouder, infinitely prouder, to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build; the father only builds, never destroys. The one has the potentialities of death; the other embodies creation and life.

Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair; these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.

It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear.

The untruthful soldier trifles with the lives of his countrymen and the honor and safety of his country.

The great question is, can war be outlawed from the world? If so, it would mark the greatest advance in civilization since the Sermon on the Mount.

Men will not fight and die without knowing what they are fighting and dying for.

Nine times of ten an army has been destroyed because its supply lines have been severed

War’s very object is victory, not prolonged indecision. In war there is no substitute for victory.

If I had one more division like this First Marine Division I could win this war.

A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.

Old soldiers never die, they just lose their grip on reality after traumatic brain injuries.

We are bound no longer by the straitjacket of the past and nowhere is the change greater than in our profession of arms. What, you may well ask, will be the end of all of this? I would not know! But I would hope that our beloved country will drink deep from the chalice of courage.

Defensive strategy never has produced ultimate victory.

Life is an earnest business, and no one every became good or great on a diet of broad grins.

I have always been very open and earnest about some things in my life, some things that are not directly in my life, but they’re twirling around me at the time.

It would be terribly boring to be earnest.

It will be my earnest aim that The New York Times give the news, all the news, in concise and attractive form,