James Mattis Quotes
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If you can't eat it, shoot it, or wear it, don't bring it.
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We all recognize that the Mid-east is dissolving into crises, and we know terrorism did not start with 9-11.
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While victimhood in America is exalted, I don't think our veterans should join those ranks.
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There is nothing better than getting shot at and missed. It's really great.
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Wherever the enemy wants to fight, we will follow him to the ends of the Earth. We'll adapt, we'll train, we'll advise, we'll mentor, and we'll fight, and we'll fight well.
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You must reward the kind of behavior that you want.
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Now from a distance, I look back on what the Corps taught me: to think like men of action, and to act like men of thought!
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For whatever trauma came with service in tough circumstances, we should take what we learned - take our post-traumatic growth - and, like past generations coming home, bring our sharpened strengths to bear, bring our attitude of gratitude to bear.
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You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway.
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For a sitting U.S. president to see our allies as freeloaders is nuts.
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Thanks to my reading, I have never been caught flat-footed by any situation, never at a loss for how any problem has been addressed... It doesn't give me all the answers, but it lights what is often a dark path ahead.
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To Marines, love of liberty is not an empty phrase... Rather, it's displayed by blood, sweat, and tears for the fallen.
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There's an urgent need to stop reacting to each immediate vexing issue in isolation. Such response often creates unanticipated second-order effects and even more problems for us.
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I like the enemy knowing there are a few guys like me around.
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Treachery has existed as long as there's been warfare, and there's always been a few people that you couldn't trust.
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I don't think the U.S. military is conservative. It's pragmatic.
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Fight with a happy heart.
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There is no God-given right to victory on the battlefield. You win that through the skill and the devotion, the valor and the ferocity of your troops.
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I have never thought it necessary to patronize the American people.
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Policy makers who have never served in the military continue to use the military to lead social change in this country.
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It's a lot easier to stay idealistic if you don't sign two to five next-of-kin letters every day.
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The Army was always big on Clausewitz, the Prussian; the Navy on Alfred Thayer Mahan, the American; and the Air Force on Giulio Douhet, the Italian. But the Marine Corps has always been more Eastern-oriented. I am much more comfortable with Sun-tzu and his approach to warfare.
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There are many people who do not know if the U.S. Army has 60,000 men or 6 million. They do not have a clue about that.
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It's very hard to live with yourself if you don't stick with your moral code.