Whether you’re a second lieutenant working with a captain and a lieutenant colonel, or a four-star general working with the Office Secretary of Defense and the White House, the decision makers have got to have ground truth. Otherwise, the decisions they make could be flawed – and that can be dangerous. John F. Kelly Read Quote
We Marines believe that God gave America the greatest gift He could bestow to man while he lived on this earth -freedom. We also believe He gave us another gift nearly as precious – our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines – to safeguard that gift and guarantee no force on this earth can ever steal it away. John F. Kelly Read Quote
Unless confronted by an immediate, visible, or uncomfortable crisis, our nation’s tendency is to take the security of the Western Hemisphere for granted. John F. Kelly Read Quote
Since 1945, no one in the U.S. military has liked the end result of the military conflicts we’ve been in: Vietnam, Korea, certainly Iraq, and probably Afghanistan. But in a democracy, you salute. John F. Kelly Read Quote
I grew up in Boston in a very, very, very Marine town. So back in my neighborhood in Boston, a working-class neighborhood, when you got your draft notice, you went down, and you took your draft physical. And then, if you passed it, you joined the Marine Corps. John F. Kelly Read Quote
We cannot gamble with American lives. I will not gamble with American lives. John F. Kelly Read Quote
I’ve learned that, in many cases, people say, ‘I want ground truth,’ and they don’t really mean it. There are warts all over this organization, as there are in many organizations, but you just have to tell truth to power and let the chips fall where they may. John F. Kelly Read Quote
If you want to get into the United States, the best way, I believe, is to ride the network. There is no convergence between, say, the criminal networks and the Islamic extremist networks. John F. Kelly Read Quote
I guess, over time, I had convinced myself that I could imagine what it would be like to lose a son or daughter. You try to imagine it so that you can write the right kind of letters or form the right words to try to comfort. But you can’t even come close. It is unimaginable. John F. Kelly Read Quote