Marine Corps Discipline Quotes

The pain of discipline is nothing like the pain of regret.

The United States Marine Corps survives on a diet of traditions and discipline, and relies on a Marines natural love of country, of the flag, for the boosting of his morale, and when merged together they make a powerful combination that can overcome anything.

But I also learned important things on Peleliu. A man’s ability to depend on his comrades and immediate leadership is absolutely necessary. I’m convinced that our discipline, esprit de corps, and tough training were the ingredients that equipped me to survive the ordeal physically and mentally—given a lot of good luck, of course. I learned realism, too. To defeat an enemy as tough and dedicated as the Japanese, we had to be just as tough. We had to be just as dedicated to America as they were to their emperor. I think this was the essence of Marine Corps doctrine in World War II, and that history vindicates this doctrine. To

There is among the Marines, to a noteworthy degree, readiness and mobility, there is intensive training, and there is discipline. There is also the tradition and history of the Corps of which every Marine is proud. It means something to us, that history. We have a reputation to live up to, and we do not mean to lower our record or bring disgrace to our insignia

A warrior’s code of the type advocated by Osiel cannot be reduced to a list of rules. “Marines don’t do that” is not merely shorthand for “Marines don’t shoot unarmed civilians; Marines don’t rape women; Marines don’t leave Marines behind; Marines don’t despoil corpses, etc,” even though those firm injunctions and many others are part of what we might call the marines’ code. What marines internalize when they are indoctrinated into the culture of the corps is an amalgam of specific regulations, general concepts (e.g., of honor, courage, commitment, discipline, loyalty, and teamwork), history, and tradition that adds up to a coherent sense of what it is to be a Marine. To remain “Semper Fidelis,” or forever faithful to the code of the Marine Corps, is never to behave in a way that cannot be reconciled with that image of “what it is to be a Marine.