Quotes - Duty (page 5)

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Do your duty in all things . . . You cannot do more; you should never wish to do less. - General Robert E. Lee

Duty is the great business of a sea-officer; all private considerations must give way to it, however painful it may be. - Horatio Lord Nelson

If a man who serves indolently and a man who serves well are treated in the same way, the man who serves well may begin to wonder why he does so. - Asakura Toshikage (1428-81)

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. - Ronald Reagan

Discipline can only be obtained when all the officers are imbued with the sense of their awful obligation to their men and to their country that they cannot tolerate negligence. Officers who fail to correct errors or to praise excellence are valueless in peace and dangerous misfits in war. - Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.

I have killed soldiers I did not hate, to fulfil the desires of politicians I did not love. - James Webb, 1991

The essence of duty is acting in the absence of orders or direction from others, based on an inner sense of what is morally and professionally right.... - General John A. Wickham, Jr., Former US Army Chief of Staff

The nation today needs men who think in terms of service to their country and not in terms of their country's debt to them. - General of the Army Omar N. Bradley

A man does not have himself killed for a few halfpence a day or for a petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify the man. - Napoleon Bonaparte

A leader does not "choose" the best or most opportune time in which to lead. A good leader takes the challenge whenever and wherever it presents itself and does the best he or she can. - SMA Richard A. Kidd, in "The Army's SMAs from the Beginning to the Present." NCO Journal, Summer 1994

Remember- managers do things right, and leaders do the right thing. - SMA Gene C. McKinney, in Command, Leadership, and Effective Staff Support, 1996

Under the orders of your devoted officers in the coming battle you will advance or fall where you stand facing the enemy. To those who will fall I say 'You will not die, but step into immortality. Your mothers will not lament your fate, but will be proud to have borne such sons. Your name will be revered forever and ever by your grateful country, and God will take you unto Himself'." - Sir Arthur Currie, Commander, Canadian Corps, Special Order before Vimy Ridge, Mar 27, 1918

In order to gauge the level of discipline within a Unit, the military developed eight indicators. Like many of its checklists, this list of indicators is uncomplicated and leaves a broad latitude for interpretation.

An experienced eye can detect the measure of discipline within a unit by merely observing something as simple as a soldier's hand salute. A sharp, crisp greeting reflects personal and organizational pride and a positive feeling that proclaims confidence, profession-alism, and a "can-do" approach to all tasks. From this utterly routine gesture, his entire unit's morale, combat readiness, and leadership can be surmised without setting foot on its premises. - Gil Dorland and John Dorland, Duty, Honor, Company; West Point Fundamentals for Business Success, 1992

A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn't like the tune. - Anon.

Duty then is the sublimest word in the English language. You should do your duty in all things. You can never do more, you should never wish to do less. - Robert Edward Lee (1807-70)

War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. -- John Stuart Mill

Valour, glory, firmness, skill, generosity, steadiness in battle and ability to rule - these constitute the duty of a soldier. They flow from his own nature. - The Bhagavad Gita

Neither bars nor stars make an officer. An individual becomes an officer only when he develops those inner qualities of honesty, self--sacrifice, and attention to duty that are always inherent to real leadership. - General Samuel D. Sturgis, Jr

As Army officers, we should prepare our men psychologically as well as physically, and inspire them with the necessity to prepare themselves for the arduous task of fighting and winning upon any battlefield, atomic or otherwise. - General Matthew B. Ridgway

In the final choice, a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains. - Dwight David Eisenhower

However horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and give his life for his country, is the noblest development of mankind. - Douglas MacArthur

If a professional soldier were to see through the fog of his own self-deception, and if he were to face the cold reality that he can't do what he has dedicated his life to, or that many of his soldiers would rather die than do their duty, it would make his life a lie. Such a man would be apt to deny his weakness with all the energy he could muster. No, the soldiers are not apt to write of their failures or the failures of their men; with few exceptions, it is only the heroes and the glory that make their way into print. - Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing; The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, Little, Brown and Company, 1995

. . . , but the officer also has a far smaller burden of individual responsibility for killing on the battlefield. The key difference is that he doesn't have to do it personally. - Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing; The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, Little, Brown and Company, 1995

Firstly, the officer has got to teach his men to honour their King, country, and regiment; secondly, to honour themselves, which is self-respect. - Captain J.F.C. Fuller, Training Soldiers for War, 1914

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