Henry V. O'Neil Quotes

Because if I ever get nailed, I don’t want you running out to get the same medicine. Believe me, if it’s you lying out there, I’m gonna make sure you’re alive before I go.

Some of the things that beat the shit out of you . . . can beat the bullshit out of you too.

It’s important to have a buddy like that. Somebody who’ll stop you from doing that really stupid thing you were gonna do just because you couldn’t think of anything better. -- unidentified soldier, eulogizing his dead buddy

Therm-bombs! Drop ’em right on us! I been roasted before—it’s nothing!

With all the god-awful suffering in this war, I suppose somebody ought to be enjoying it.

Don't let 'em see they killed you!

Good units walk a thin line between indiscipline and ineffectiveness. Ignore the rules too often and you’ve got a mob, but enforce the rules too strictly and you’ve got a herd.

Lieutenant Mortas is the black sheep of the family--I thought you knew that.

He relaxed into the dirt, it was all right, he was infantry and the dirt was home. He felt warm liquid all over his left thigh and wondered if he’d peed himself, it didn’t matter, none of it mattered, the stars were out in the blackness overhead and that was where he was going.

Your people sell the weapons. My people use them.

Food’s the killer. The clock starts as soon as the troops are on the ground. You wouldn’t believe how fast they consume what they’re carrying, and then … if I don’t get them more, if I don’t find them more … they die.

This is a Spartacan fighting knife. Heard of the Spartacan Scouts? Rough boys. This knife belonged to one of them. He died saving my life.

Sergeant Tin said it would be easier to just call you Corporal. She said you go back and forth, promoted one day and busted the next.

Nobody ever kills everybody anywhere, big man. Somebody always gets away.

Because when you’re really scared to do something … do it right away.

You can pray and fight at the same time, Corporal. Especially if you learn how before things get rough. It’s important to have a philosophy of life . . . and of death.

Follow the plan until it goes to shit, and then kill everything that isn’t human.

A night in space can last a long time … or maybe it never ends.

It’s a lot cleaner when Command kills you on purpose . . . than when they do it by accident.

This is what I hate most about guys like you. You didn't even try.

How long you been in the infantry, sir? Anything under ten miles counts as 'almost there'.

You help us, they’ll lock you up for the rest of your life.

I’ve had a lot of lieutenants over the years, and all the good ones were sick, sick individuals. You might be the best one yet.

That’s it. Keep that edge. Fight like there’s no tomorrow.

Never diagnosed the enemy before.