Best 168 quotes in «combat quotes» category

So few people were left who knew what combat was like. People were so easy to frighten. Combat taught a man what to fear – and what to ignore.

So it came to pass that as he trudged from the place of blood and wrath his soul changed.

Stripped to its essence, combat is a series of quick decisions and rather precise actions carried out in concert with ten or twelve other men. In that sense it’s much more like football than, say, like a gang fight. The unit that choreographs their actions best usually wins. They might take casualties, but they win. That choreography—you lay down fire while I run forward, then I cover you while you move your team up—is so powerful that it can overcome enormous tactical deficits. There is choreography for storming Omaha Beach, for taking out a pillbox bunker, and for surviving an L-shaped ambush at night on the Gatigal. The choreography always requires that each man make decisions based not on what’s best for him, but on what’s best for the group. If everyone does that, most of the group survives. If no one does, most of the group dies. That, in essence, is combat.

The inner fight never does any dead. (Le combat intérieur - Ne fait jamais de mort)

The glamorous side is all they want to hear, the real part of war isn’t believed or [is] listened to with a bored feeling, such as: the constant waiting, baking in the sun all day the flies all day & the mosquitoes all night, the hr. on & hr. off all night, the rain & shivering all night, the thirst & the same canned ration all the time till it becomes tasteless paste that you spit out, the always incomplete “word” never being told what the situation is. Furthermore an admission of fear is either regarded as weakness or modesty in a combat veteran. They don’t realize that without fear there can be no courage.

Sure, military combat is scary... but in some ways combat seems a little easier than personal relationships. At least in combat, the enemy is honest enough to claim themselves as such.

The devil depends on a dark secret chance, but God does it now before your own eyes.

...the experience of battle forever divides those who talk of nothing else but its prospect from those who talk of everything else but its memory.

The other boys started to complain that pushing off walls was movement, not combat. "There is no combat without movement," Ender said.

The purpose of Karate is to guide you out of trouble by any means necessary, both in actual combat and in life

The problem is that it's hard to aim a rifle when your heart is pounding, which points to an irony of modern combat: it does extraordinarily violent things to the human body but requires almost dead calm to execute well.

The rate spread of EBOLA VIRUS in West Africa, is big tragedy. It is a fatal disease in the history of the world. Intensive education (formal and informal approaches) of the citizens of African can help prevent the spread. International cooperation is urgently needed to combat the EBOLA virus.

The razor hung between his shoulder-blades from a loop of cotton string round his neck inside his shirt. The same motion of the hand which brought the razor forward over his shoulder flipped the blade open and freed it from the cord, the blade opening on until the back edge of it lay across the knuckles of his fist, his thumb pressing the handle into his closing fingers, so that in the second before the half-drawn pistol exploded he actually struck at the white man's throat not with the blade but with a sweeping blow of his fist, following through in the same motion so that not even the first jet of blood touched his hand or arm.

There are two things a combat deployment offers which all of us strongly desire. The first, being purpose. Every morning we woke up and knew why we were there. It is immediate and unavoidable. Although, it is extreme and unpleasant, there is a comfort in that purpose. The second, is simplicity. We have one goal. There are relatively simple rules on how to accomplish it, and we understand that just about everything will go wrong. Pretty simple.

. . . there are two types of fighters, the former strike all over the place hoping one would land, the latter, assured of their prowess and capabilities, hit once and destroy the opponent's desire to continue the fight

The slaves toiling in the temple of this god began to feel rebellion at his harsh tasks.

Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.

. . . the sole aim of Okinawa Karate is to teach A person to handle violence and violent individuals; whether it is tactile, mental or spiritual

Those were great big angry men with sharp swords actually wanting to cut pieces off me. It’s not until you’ve seen a red gaping wound and all the complex little bits inside a man all broken up and sliced open, and known that they weren’t ever getting back together again, and vomited your last two meals over the rocks . . . it’s not until then that you understand the business of swords properly and, if you’re a sensible man you vow to have nothing to do with it ever again.

The warrior guided by the spirit serves humanity, the warrior without, serves the ego

They [442nd Regimental Combat Team] did more than defend America. They helped define America at its best...Rarely has a nation been so well served by a people it has so ill-treated.

Une personne qui se victimise ne peut pas sortir victorieuse!

Today, more than 23 million veterans walk among us. Nearly 3 million receive disability compensation, and many more owe their lives to an anonymous corpsman or medic. Millions of Americans and their families are profoundly grateful.

Un combat ne s’arrête que lorsqu’ on a atteint son objectif.

. . to be exceptional in martial arts, you must possess the "4 C's" : Consistency, Commitment, Creativity and Competence

True Martial Arts is universal, simple and practical. Anything else is too complex to be used in combat.

War is unlike life. It's a denial of everything you learn life is. And that's why when you get finished with it, you see that if offers no lessons that can't be bettered learned in civilian life. You are exposed to horrors you would sooner forget.

Verily, there is no dishonor in death at the hands of a far superior enemy.

War was a sorrier business than storybooks told.

War comes home— invades it, literally— and every day is another combat. Only, there’s nothing available, nothing real to fight. And you never know when the next attack will come, only from whom it will come.

When we deployed, in our heads, the towel we left hanging next to the shower to dry, would still be hanging there when we got back. Well, it won’t be. If it is, some important questions need to be asked.

Writing a first-draft battle scene is akin to real combat—chaos, confusion, and you must keep your cool as you fire word bullets downrange.

When you are in a combat situation, you mustn’t let your mind be polluted by emotions like fear and anger. Simply accept the situation and react, even if you are facing impossible odds. Keep your head clear and you will be one step ahead of your attackers.

When you raise the most valid of points, you will be grazed by the most hollow of souls, and the most vacant of personages.

Women shouldn't be in combat," said Vorkosigan, grimly glum. "Neither should men, in my opinion.

Wyatt avoided the petty gunfights and headed to a saloon and rigged up a bunch of Molotov cocktails. Her firebombs against members of Tom and Vik's posse had destroyed the scenario's promise of so many wonderful gun duels. She'd killed most of their group, too, and shown everyone that she wasn't getting promoted only because of her programming skills. Her dislike of fighting had paradoxically turned her into a lethal killing machine.

You can only pretend that you're already dead and thus free yourself up to focus on three things: 1) finding and killing the enemy, 2) communicating the situation and resulting actions to adjacent units and higher headquarters, and 3) triaging and treating your wounded. If you love your men, you naturally think about number three first, but if you do you're wrong. The grim logic of combat dictates that numbers one and two take precedence.

You can keep your paper promises and all your worldly treasures. But you cannot buy peace of mind or escape from the headstone garden. Lyrics from "Headstone Garden" by the Troubled Land Band at the Independence Day celebration 12 years after the impact that destroyed civilization.

Aggressiveness is good in a combat leader. Combining that with ambition and insecurity becomes more problematic.

Aggressiveness carries with it an incalculable moral edge in any combat, offensive or defensive.

A civilised man is someone who has discovered something more satisfying than combat.

Always keep your eye on your opponent, and never let yourself be deceived by ruses.

A great man's manias must be respected, because the time required to combat them is too precious to waste.

[Albert Camus] was completely intransigent, and that's not at all a neutrality. It's combat, it's a man who involved himself, committed himself.

And the combat ceased, for want of combatants.

[ General James Mattis] is a Marine's Marine who has served in combat in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

As a Marine officer in combat, I was responsible for the lives and safety of all the Marines who served with me.

As every new breed of virus is conceived, created and released into the wild, another small change is made to the anti-virus software to combat the new threat.

As a combat veteran, I know the cost of war.

But only a fool sails into combat with nature