"The only people I like besides my wife and children are Marines."

- Lt. Col. Oliver North

"The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines. Lord, how they could fight!"

- MGen. Frank E. Lowe, USA; Korea, 26 January 1952

"The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years."

- James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy; 23 February 1945

"I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world!"

- General Douglas MacArthur; Korea, 21 September 1950

"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!"

- Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States, 1945

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem."

- Ronald Reagan, President of the United States; 1985

"For over 221 years our Corps has done two things for this great Nation. We make Marines, and we win battles."

- General Charles C. Krulak, USMC (CMC), 5 May 1997

"Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?"

- GySgt. Daniel J. "Dan" Daly, USMC. Belleau Wood, 6 June 1918.

"Gone to Florida to fight the Indians. Will be back when the war is over."

- Colonel Archibald Henderson (CMC), USMC 1836

"Don't you forget that you're First Marines! Not all the communists in Hell can overrun you!"

- Colonel Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC. Chosin Reservoir, Korea,

"Marines die, that's what we're here for. But the Marine Corps lives forever. And that means YOU live forever."

- GySgt. Hartman (R Lee Ermey)

"We are United States Marines, and for two and a quarter centuries we have defined the standards of courage, esprit, and military prowess."

- General James L. Jones, USMC (CMC); 10 November 2000

"There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion."

- General William Thornson, U.S. Army

"You cannot exaggerate about the Marines. They are convinced to the point of arrogance, that they are the most ferocious fighters on earth- and the amusing thing about it is that they are."

- Father Kevin Keaney, Chaplain, Korean War

"The bended knee is not a tradition of our Corps."

- General Alexander A. Vandergrift, USMC, 5 May 1946.

"By their victory, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the Fifth Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully. Among the American who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue."

- Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, U.S. Navy

"The Marine Corps has just been called by the New York Times, 'The elite of this country.' I think it is the elite of the world."

- Admiral William Halsey, U.S. Navy

"I can't say enough about the two Marine divisions. If I use words like 'brilliant,' it would really be an under description of the absolutely superb job that they did in breaching the so-called 'impenetrable barrier.' It was a classic- absolutely classic- military breaching of a very very tough minefield, barbed wire, fire trenches-type barrier."

- General Norman Schwarzkopf, U. S. Army, February 1991

"The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle."

- General John "Black Jack" Pershing, U.S. Army WWI

"Every Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman. All other conditions are secondary."

- General A. M. Gray (CMC), USMC

"A Ship without Marines is like a coat without buttons."

- Admiral Farragut

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

- General Douglas McArthur in Korea

"We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem!"

- Colonel Chesty Puller, USMC

"The United States Marine Corps, with its fiercely proud tradition of excellence in combat, its hallowed rituals, and its unbending code of honor, is part of the fabric of American myth."

- Thomas E. Ricks

"FIDELI CERTA MERCES meaning "To the Faithful There Is Certain Reward" ."

- Appears on every Marine's Honorable Discharge Paper