Chesty Puller Quotes

#1. You don't hurt 'em if you don't hit 'em.

Chesty Puller

#2. In the Confederate Army, an officer was judged by stark courage alone, and this made it possible for the Confederacy to live four years.

Chesty Puller

#3. I've always believed that no officer's life, regardless of rank, is of such great value to his country that he should seek safety in the rear ... Officers should be forward with their men at the point of impact.

Chesty Puller

#4. We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem!

Chesty Puller

#5. There are not enough chinamen in the world to stop a fully armed Marine regiment from going where ever they want to go.

Chesty Puller

#6. So they've got us surrounded, good! Now we can fire in any direction, those b*****ds won't get away this time!

Chesty Puller

#7. If we are going to win the next war, in my opinion, 50 percent of the time of training should be allotted to night training.

Chesty Puller

#8. If you want to get the most out of your men, give them a break! Don't make them work completely in the dark. If you do, they won't do a bit more than they have to. But if they comprehend, they'll work like mad.

Chesty Puller

#9. The mail service has been excellent out here, and in my opinion this is all that the Air Force has accomplished during the war.

Chesty Puller

#10. They're on our right, they're on our left, they're in front of us, they're behind us; they can't get away from us this time.

Chesty Puller

#11. What the American people want to do is fight a war without getting hurt. You can't do that any more than you can get into a barroom fight without getting hurt ... Unless the American people are willing to send their sons out to fight an aggressor, there just isn't going to be any United States.

Chesty Puller

#12. Where the hell do you put the bayonet?

Chesty Puller

#13. In the Marine Corps, your buddy is not only your classmate or fellow officer, but he is also the Marine under your command. If you don't prepare yourself to properly train him, lead him, and support him on the battlefield, then you're going to let him down. That is unforgivable in the Marine Corps.

Chesty Puller

#14. Old breed? New breed? There's not a damn bit of difference so long as it's the Marine breed.

Chesty Puller

#15. Paperwork will ruin any military force.

Chesty Puller

#16. I want to go where the guns are!

Chesty Puller

#17. Take me to the Brig. I want to see the "real Marines".

Chesty Puller