Douglas MacArthur was an American five-star general and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. Inspirational Douglas MacArthur quotes will brighten up your day and make you feel ready to take on anything.
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Most Famous Douglas Macarthur Quotes
The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. Douglas MacArthur
A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. Douglas MacArthur
I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within. Douglas MacArthur
Preparedness is the key to success and victory. Douglas MacArthur
Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self distrust, fear and despair; these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust. Whatever your years, there is in every being’s heart the love of wonder, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appetite for what comes next, and the joy and the game of life. Douglas MacArthur
Have a good plan, execute it violently, and do it today. Douglas MacArthur
Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons. Douglas MacArthur
Old soldiers never die; they just fade away. Douglas MacArthur
History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster. Douglas MacArthur
You are remembered for the rules you break. Douglas MacArthur
Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. Douglas MacArthur
I’ll come back as soon as I can with as much as I can. In the meantime, you’ve got to hold! Douglas MacArthur
Talk of imminent threat to our national security through the application of external force is pure nonsense. Our threat is from the insidious forces working from within which have already so drastically altered the character of our free institutions, those institutions we proudly called the American way of life. Douglas MacArthur
The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It’s the age-old struggle: the roar of the crowd on the one side, and the voice of your conscience on the other. Douglas MacArthur
Even when opportunity knocks, a man still has to get up off his seat and open the door. Douglas MacArthur
There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity. Douglas MacArthur
Youth is not entirely a time of life; it is a state of mind. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubts; as young as your self confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. Douglas MacArthur
I came out of Bataan and I shall return! Douglas MacArthur
By profession, I am a soldier and take pride in that fact. But I am prouder infinitely prouder to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build; the father only builds, never destroys. The one has the potentiality of death; the other embodies creation and life. And while the hordes of death are mighty, the battalions of life are mightier still. It is my hope that my son when I am gone, will remember me not from the battlefield but in the home repeating with him our simple daily prayer, Our Father Who Art in Heaven. Douglas MacArthur
The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. Douglas MacArthur
For those to whom much is given, much is required. It is not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up. There is no substitute for victory. Douglas MacArthur Quotes
Rules are mostly made to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind. Douglas MacArthur
No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation. Douglas MacArthur
The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. Douglas MacArthur
Give me ten thousand Filipino soldiers and I will conquer the world. Douglas MacArthur
On the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that on other days, on other fields will bear the fruits of victory. Douglas MacArthur
Preparedness is the key to success and victory. Douglas MacArthur
It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it. Douglas MacArthur
Optimism is denial, so face the facts and move on. Douglas MacArthur
The enemy is in front of us, the enemy is behind us, the enemy is to the right and to the left of us. They can’t get away this time! Douglas MacArthur
Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons. Douglas MacArthur
Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory. Douglas MacArthur
Give me ten thousand Filipino soldiers and I will conquer the world. Douglas MacArthur
Worry, doubt, fear, and despair are the enemies which slowly bring us down to the ground and turn us to dust before we die. Douglas MacArthur
Even when opportunity knocks, a man still has to get up off his seat and open the door. Douglas MacArthur
There are some who, for varying reasons, would appease Red China. They are blind to history’s clear lesson, for history teaches with unmistakable emphasis that appeasement but begets newer and bloodier war. It points to no single instance where this end has justified that means, where appeasement has led to more than a sham peace. Like blackmail, it lays the basis for new and successively greater demands until, as in blackmail, violence becomes the only other alternative. Douglas MacArthur
Worry, doubt, fear and despair are the enemies which slowly bring us down to the ground and turn us to dust before we die. Douglas MacArthur
We are not retreating, we’re advancing in another direction. Douglas MacArthur
The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself. Douglas MacArthur
There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity. Douglas MacArthur
Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world, and that God will preserve it always. Douglas MacArthur
Competitive sports keep in us a spirit and vitality. Sports teach the strong to know when they are weak and the brave to face themselves when they are afraid; to be proud and unbowed in defeat, and yet humble and gentle in victory; to master ourselves before we attempt to master others; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; and to give the predominance of courage over timidity. Douglas MacArthur
Years wrinkle the skin. Giving up wrinkles the soul. Douglas MacArthur
Duty, Honor, Country those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. Douglas MacArthur
No plan ever survives its first encounter with the enemy. Douglas MacArthur
Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear and kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor with the cry of grave national emergency. There has always been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant funds demanded. Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real. Douglas MacArthur
Optimism is denial, so face the facts and move on. Douglas MacArthur
Life is a lively process of becoming. Douglas MacArthur
We are not retreating we’re advancing in another direction. Douglas MacArthur
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope and as old as your despair. In the central place of every heart, there is a recording chamber. So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, and courage, so long are you young. When your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and then only, are you grown old. And then, indeed as the ballad says, you just fade away. Douglas MacArthur
I promise to keep on living as though I expected to live forever. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul. Douglas MacArthur
Are we going to continue to yield personal liberties and community autonomy to the steady inexplicable centralization of all political power or restore the Republic to Constitutional direction, regain our personal liberties and reassume the individual state’s primary responsibility and authority in the conduct of local affairs? Are we going to permit a continuing decline in public and private morality or re establish high ethical standards as the means of regaining a diminishing faith in the integrity of our public and private institutions? Douglas MacArthur
Security lies in our ability to produce. Douglas MacArthur
You are remembered for the rules you break. Douglas MacArthur
In war, indeed, there can be no substitute for victory. Douglas MacArthur
Old soldiers never die; they just fade away. Douglas MacArthur
War’s very object is victory, not prolonged indecision. In war there is no substitute for victory. Douglas MacArthur
Beware not the enemy from ‘without’ but the enemy from within. Douglas MacArthur
A good soldier, whether he leads a platoon or an army, is expected to look backward as well as forward; but he must think only forward. Douglas MacArthur
I had learned one of the bitter lessons of life: never try to regain the past, the fire will have become ashes. Douglas MacArthur
However horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind. Douglas MacArthur
I know war as few other men now living know it, and nothing to me is more revolting. I have long advocated its complete abolition, as its very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes But once war is forced upon us, there is no other alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end. Douglas MacArthur
I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world! Douglas MacArthur
Only those are fit to live who are not afraid to die. Douglas MacArthur
Believe me, sir, never a night goes by, be I ever so tired, but I read the Word of God before I go to bed. Douglas MacArthur
The scale and grandeur of the Russian effort mark it as the greatest military achievement in all history. Douglas MacArthur
A good soldier, whether he leads a platoon or an army, is expected to look backward as well as forward; but he must think only forward. Douglas MacArthur Quotes
History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster. Douglas MacArthur
A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him. Douglas MacArthur
A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him. Douglas MacArthur
Years wrinkle the skin. Giving up wrinkles the soul. Douglas MacArthur
Never ask age of a woman. Douglas MacArthur
No plan ever survives its first encounter with the enemy. Douglas MacArthur
There are no atheists in the foxholes of Bataan. Douglas MacArthur
Never give an order that can’t be obeyed. Douglas MacArthur
I see that the flagpole still stands. Have your troops hoist the colors to its peak, and let no enemy ever haul them down. Douglas MacArthur
The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training sacrifice. Douglas MacArthur
I know that this operation will be a sort of helter skelter. But the First Marine Division is going to win the war by landing at Inchon. Douglas MacArthur
The object and practice of liberty lies in the limitation of government power. Douglas MacArthur
Defensive strategy never has produced ultimate victory. Douglas MacArthur
It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past Douglas MacArthur
Like the old soldier of the ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Goodbye. Douglas MacArthur
We have had our last chance. The problem now is basically theological and involves spirituality and improvement of human character. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh. Douglas MacArthur Quotes
It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear. Douglas MacArthur
The nations of the world will have to unite for the next war will be an interplanetary war. The nations of Earth must someday make a common front against attack by people from other planets. Douglas MacArthur
The object and practice of liberty lies in the limitation of government power. Douglas MacArthur
The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It’s the age old struggle: the roar of the crowd on the one side, and the voice of your conscience on the other. Douglas MacArthur
The inescapable price of liberty is an ability to preserve it from destruction. Douglas MacArthur
