It's said that the top Japanese ace of WW2, Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, summed up aerial combat as, "You're either an ace or a target." He was killed when the transport plane he was a passenger on was shot down.

"War is hell."-- General Sherman

" Know your opponent and yourself and you will win many battles,
know yourself alone and nothing of opponent and you will win some and lose some,
know neither yourself nor your opponent and you will lose"

- Sun Tzu (dont ask for sources )

"War is the continuation of politics by other means"

- Carl von Clausewitz, Vom Kriege (On War)

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!"
- Famous last words (?) of Major-General John Sedgwick at the skirmish of Spotsylvania


"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room."
- President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers)


"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?"
- WOPR, opining on Global Thermonuclear War

Nil Carborundum - a UK military term, dog Latin for 'Don't let the bastards grind you down'

"Don't be a silly officer, Sir, that'll just get people killed' - SNCO stock response to officer-class idiocy

"Where the fuck did all these Indians come fro....". General George Armstrong Custer

Also, das hätte ich grad auch noch zusammengebracht.

Well, even I could have achieved that.

Retired (abdicated) Austrian emperor Ferdinand the Benign after the disaster (for Austria) at Königgrätz.

chairman bill wrote:Nil Carborundum - a UK military term, dog Latin for 'Don't let the bastards grind you down'

"Don't be a silly officer, Sir, that'll just get people killed' - SNCO stock response to officer-class idiocy

Illegitimi non carborundum, n'est ce pas, amigo?

"Only the dead have seen the end of war."
- Plato

"Peace is our Profession" U.S. Air Force, Strategic Air Command motto

CookieJon wrote:"They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!"
- Famous last words (?) of Major-General John Sedgwick at the skirmish of Spotsylvania

Supposedly he didn't manage to finish saying "distance".. He also made the error of not actually being an elephant.

" I always say that, next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained."

"Ours [our army] is composed of the scum of the earth - the mere scum of the earth"

The Duke of Wellington

"I come in peace. I didn't bring tanks or artillery. I'm pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I will kill every single last one of you."

- Maj. General James Mattis, USMC to Iraqi Tribal leaders in Al Anbar 2003

The following quotations are borrowed from "In Confidence - The British Armed Forces Guide to Personnel and Fitness Reporting" by Rick Jolly , FoSAMA Books ISBN 0 9514305 1 3 (all profits to the South Atlantic Medal Association)

PC these quotations are not!

" This young man is about as useful as half a pair of scissors"

" The Senior Dental Officer's wife is forceful and garrulous, but well meaning. There have been occasions, however, when I have wished someone would give her a bottle of gin and a humane killer to play with."

" As Navigator's Yeoman he is like a lighthouse in a desert - bright but rather useless"

" Corporal Z leaves the Service this year, which will allow his supervisors, half the administrative staff, and the majority of the Special Investigation Branch to return to normal duties."

" Miss B has a mind like concrete - all mixed up and permanently set."

" Leading WREN A is so fond of the chaps that her legs have put in for separation pay."

" I could not warm to this officer, even if we were cremated together."

" This officer would be out of her depth in a car park puddle."

Who Dares, Wins
- SAS

AlohaChris wrote:"I come in peace. I didn't bring tanks or artillery. I'm pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I will kill every single last one of you."

- Maj. General James Mattis, USMC to Iraqi Tribal leaders in Al Anbar 2003

What was their reply?

Henry V's 'Once more unto the breach...' speech, via Shakespeare, takes some beating. I don't suppose that it has any basis in truth? Did Shakespeare just make everything up?

A couple of quotes by Erwin Rommel:

“In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it.”

"Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, and brains saves both."

jamest wrote:

AlohaChris wrote:"I come in peace. I didn't bring tanks or artillery. I'm pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I will kill every single last one of you."

- Maj. General James Mattis, USMC to Iraqi Tribal leaders in Al Anbar 2003

What was their reply?

Defiance that ended with the battle of Falluja. Not a smart move on their part.